Star and Lightning
by Jadzania
Summary: Starlett is Harry's age, has got a scar on her forehead, has magical powers and lives in the muggleworld... what connection does she have to Harry Potter? And most importantly: Which side will she support in the upcoming war? COMPLETE
1. Prologue

**Star and Lightning**

**1st Chapter - Prologue**

In the ruin of an old factory in a dark and run-down part of London a group of youths lay sound asleep, all expect one. It was a warm summer night, therefore they were only covered in light papers. Most of them were runaways who had fled from abusive parents, unloving families or hopeless futures. Some had never had the chance of knowing their parents, like the girl that lay awake in a corner of the great hall. She looked up at the ceiling that had a big hole in it through which you could see the night sky. The girl was thin and small for her age, she was about 15 or 16 years old. Long light-brown hair curled around her and her eyes were of a very dark brown, almost black. But the most remarkable thing about her was a star-shaped scar on her forehead. It had been there before she came to live on the street when she had been only a little more than a year old. As she didn't know her real name, everybody just called her "Starlett" because of that scar. Zaza, the woman who had found her and was like a mother to her, suspected she might be born to a sect or something like that, because that scar didn't look like a natural one.

When some of the others moved in their sleep, Starlet turned her head to look towards them. When nobody awoke, she moved into a sitting position, chin resting on her knees, and looked straight at the grubby floor in front of her. While she was thinking, silent tears were streaming down her cheeks. She desperately missed the life she had never had. Although she would never admit it to the rest of the gang, she missed a family and a home and she missed going to school and learning. Her hunger for knowledge was unquenchable but it just wasn't possible for a street kid to attend school. Of course, she could have gone to the youth welfare department, but more than everything she loved her freedom and was afraid it might be taken. She had taught herself how to read and now used every possibility to get into the library or to steal books from bookstores. But there wasn't much time for reading and the little she got to know from the books was unstructured and disordered because she didn't know how to choose the books she read and chose them sort of randomely. Besides, her day was usually quite busy with procuring enough food and new clothes, although Starlett's special ability made things much easier. Starlett could make things happen. She had first realised those faculties five years ago. Before, she had done them instinctively, from then on she began training them consciously. After a lot of exercise she was now able to move things without touching them and to defend herself with lightning beams that had effects similar to high voltage. She was frantically looking for information on these gifts but had found nothing in the books she had read so far. In still nights like this one Starlett used to wonder wether there were other people who had this gift that was so much like magic and wether she'd ever meet somebody of those.

* * *

At the same time in a trim suburb of London, a boy with messy black hair and a scar in the form of a lightning bolt on his forehead sat on the window sill of his little room in Privet Drive. Harry Potter wasn't really seeing the sparkling stars on the dark sky. He was mourning the death of his godfather, Sirius Black, who had died only one month before. Sirius had been the closest person to a father he had ever had. Now he lived with his aunt and uncle again who didn't care wether he was miserable and drowning in grief. His friends wrote him often but he rarely read their letters and when he did, their friendly written words didn't reach him.When he heard the old grandfatherclock from the Dursley's living room strike 12, a sad smile appeared on his face. It was early morning of the 31st of July, his Birthday. He was 16 now.

Just then, four owls reached his window. They must have been waiting in the trees nearby until it was midnight. Harry recognised one of them as his own owl Hedwig, that he had sent to Hermione, and another one as Pig, Ron's owl. Although he wasn't in the mood for a birthday celebration, he was curious what his friends had sent him. First, he turned to Hedwig and untied the parcel from her leg. Hermione had sent him a book about Parseltongue and a letter with the usual blah-blah. Harry quickly scanned the book's table of content and flicked through the pages, then decided it might be a very interesting and useful book he should read later. Then he put it aside and opened the present from Ron. Ron had gotten him a pack of joke articles from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, his brothers' joke article shop, and some candies. The third owl came from Remus Lupin. He had sent a birthday cake, that was bewitched to change color, and a birthday card where all members of the Order of Phoenix, Harry knew, had signed. Harry put the card on his desk and looked at the last owl. He had no idea who else would send him something for his birthday. The great brown owl tilted its head to the side and watched him with its big, yellow eyes. Then it jumped forward and gave him its foot so he could easily untie the letter it had brought. The address was written in golden ink in a handwritig, that seemed familiar to Harry, but he couldn't place it. When he opened it, a magical photograph fell out and he saw that the letter was from Albus Dumbledore. Harry snorted. The old headmaster had lost his trust for not telling him of the prophecy. Harry wanted to put the letter away without reading it, but hesitated when his eyes were caught by the picture that had fallen to the floor. It showed the familiar laughing faces of his parents but what puzzled him was, that they were holding two babies. One with green eyes, that probably was himself, and another one with dark brown eyes. Now curious, he took the letter hoping it would hold an explanation.

_Dear Harry_

_Please receive my congratulations to your 16th birthday._

_I'm sure you have already received a lot of condolences concerning your godfather's death and I already expressed my sorrow at the end of the last school year. Nevertheless, I want to repeat myself and offer my condolences . Don't blame yourself for his death. I am most sorry for what happened last year and I fear I have lost your trust. I learned that you are a reasonable young man who can be trusted with secret knowledge. I must admit that the prophecy was not the only secret kept from you._

_When you take a look at the picture I sent you, you will see your parents holding two infants. You have never seen any pictures of the second child before because you shouldn't know about her. You are not an only child, Harry. You had a twin sister whose name was Elisha Potter. Unfortunately she did not survive Voldemort's attack._

_I haven't told you about her before because, for you were already bearing the loss of your parents, you shouldn't know you had also lost a twinsister._

_I'm not sure if it was wise to tell you of this loss now, but you deserve to know the truth._

_Try to enjoy your birthday and the rest of your holidays. I will see you September 1st in Hogwarts. Your school letters and OWL-results schould arrive soon._

_Yours sincerely_

_Albus Dumbledore_

Harry lowered the letter and sank down on his bed. A twin sister. A sister, he had never gotten to know. Voldemort must have killed her before aiming the killing curse at him. If it had been the other way around, if his twin sister had survived, would they have come to the Dursleys together? Would she be going to Hogwarts with him? Would they both be grieving for Sirius now? Or could he even have saved Sirius with her help? If, only if. But she was dead, as were his parents and his godfather. Harry thought about being angry with Dumbledore for not telling him earlier, but then he realised how much that knowledge would have taken him down, how much it took him down now. Voldemort. It was all because of Voldemort. It was Voldemort who had taken his parents and his sister away, Voldemort who was responsible for Sirius' death and it was Voldemort and that damn prophecy that made his life miserable. With these thoughts, Harry curled into a ball on his bed without undressing and wept himself to sleep.


	2. Stumbling Over a Mysterious Pub

**Star and Lightning**

**2nd Chapter – Stumbling Over a Mysterious Pub**

Starlett opened the door to "Michael's Place", a small dark pub with a kittchen in the back, went in and scanned the room for Zaza, who was working here. She didn't see her, so she went straight to the kittchen. There she was. Zaza was a tall and slender woman whose hair was blue that day. Though she was only 10 years older than Starlett, Zaza felt like a mother to her. She was the one who had found her and taken care of her. When she saw Starlett entering, she put the vegetables, she had been working on, aside and greeted her warmly.

"Hey, my little star." She hugged her, trying not to touch her with her hands in order to keep her a little clean. "Slept well?"

"Yeah, quite well. Do you happen to have some leftovers?"

Zaza carefully looked wether her boss was watching, then ushered Starlett into a corner of the kittchen and gave her some food, that had been prepared, but not sold the day before. While Starlett was eating, they talked.

"You can't imagine the rubbish I dreamed this night." Zaza said, turnig to her work. "I dreamed, I was in the London shopping mall, you know that one where they have so many juwellers. There I saw a damn expensive but also damn beautiful dress that was guarded by several guys with guns. I really wanted that dress, but how to get past those nasty guys? Then you appeared and made them fly high into the air. You should have seen their faces."

She turned around to look at Starlett and they both laughed until their stomaches began aching. Then Zaza added: " But I believe, in the end I forgot to take the dress with me."

They broke out laughing again and when they had calmed down, Zaza asked seriously: "What about that pain in your scar? Has it come back?"

Starlet shook her head. "No, not in quite a time."

After a short time, when no one spoke and the only sounds were the scrapping of Zaza's knife and the dimned talking and clattering from outside the kittchen, she added: "But my control has become better." Zaza looked up and smiled a little. "Yesterday I managed to make a briefcase falling out of a rich man's pocket without any side-effects like the last times. I only had to go where it had fallen after he left and pick it. Unfortunately it was almost empty. One would think those guys in tuxedos carrying a breifcase 'd have a lot of money with them, but no…"

"And let me guess, you spend that little money on a pot of coffee and a book."

Starlett smiled sheepishly and nodded. Zaza knew how much she loved to read. Starlett had sometimes gotten in trouble because she had spent the money she got on coffee and books instead of giving it to Garry, her "employee", the gang's boss.

"And did you…" Zaza began, but was interrupted by Starlett: "No. It seems hopeless to find any book about it. I even asked a saleslady in that great bookstore next to Winney's and she told me to look into the Fantasy departement. But that's all it is: fantasy. What I can do, is real."

Starlett sighed and concentrated on her food again. Zaza watched her with a frown, then turned back to her work. She knew how much this bothered the young girl, but she couldn't help. Starlett ate silently and Zaza didn't make any attempt to talk, either. When she was done eating, Starlett bade Zaza goodbye and left.

While walking through the busy shopping mall towards the meeting point, where the gang would meet soon, Starlett saw a dark little pub, she had never realised before. It was called "Leaky Cauldron" and curious as she was, Starlett opened the heavy door and peeked inside. It was dusky inside and only mildly illuminated. Although the Place was easy to oversee from the outside, it was crowded with people. A man and a woman, both wearing black clothes and long cloaks although it was summer, came in through the door and pushed Starlett in. She felt awkward there with her top and jeans because almost all the other people in were clothed so weird. She thought about going straight outside again, but seeing a man step into a fire and disappear made her decide to stay a little. If people could walk into fire here, maybe they could also make things happen, like Starlett. Curiously, Starlett made her way to the bar, trying to overhear as many conversations as possible. The people were talking about holidays in places with weird names she had never heard before, broomsticks, the ministry of magic, … Yes, Starlett decided, this Place was definitley worth an investigation, even if that meant risking to arrive too late at the meeting.

When she reached the bar and sat down on a barstool, a bartender turned to her and asked what she wanted. When Starlett ordered a coke, the man curiously eyed her and her clothing, then asked: "Muggleborn, eh? Keeping old habits?" Without waiting for an answer, he shouted "one coke" into the kittchen and turned to another guest. Great, Starlett thought, she already was noticeable enough and then she had to order a coke. Was anybody else in here drinking a coke? No. As she had no idea of how things worked in this world, she had to find a way to melt with these surroundings and the people in order to be able to watch before doing anything. So she decided to sneak out of this place before the bartender's attention was back on her and he maybe even wanted some money. She'd have to get herself a dark robe, like these people were wearing. Then she wouldn't be this noticeable anymore.


	3. First Time in Diagon Alley

Thanks for the reviews!

My Beta is on holiday in the moment and though she said she has internet there, she doesn't answer my mail. So I'll maybe update these chapters when she's back.

on with the story...

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**3rd Chapter –First Time in Diagon Alley**

Minerva McGonnagal woke up to see the sun shining in her bedroom in one of the many towers of Hogwarts. She was tired and would have liked to turn around and go on sleeping, but she needed to go to Diagon Alley today and afterwards there would be an Order meeting. So she got up grumpily and dressed before heading towards the Great Hall for breakfeast. The Hall was almost empty for no students were there and the Head Table was only half full. Fortunately, Albus wasn't there and didn't try to make her smile. He was always so concerned for her and the last thing she needed now, were his efforts to cheer her up. The students didn't know this, but she could be quite bad-tempered and moody when she had had a bad night. And she had definitely had a bad night. All these worries because of the return of Lord Voldemort… she had hardly slept at all. Luckily Umbridge was gone and Hogwarts would belong to Albus again and the Order didn't need to hide from the Ministry anymore, but still it was tiring and nerve-racking.

Still a bit sleepy, Minerva left the Great hall after a quick breakfeast and went to her rooms. There she collected all the thing she'd need, took some time to look for her shopping list and then finally stepped into her fireplace and flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.

* * *

When Starlett opened the door to the Leaky Cauldron, she felt much more confident than she had felt the day before. She had managed to get a black cloak that looked a bit like those these people were wearing. It was different, but not too much and she hoped no one would notice her.

She had had problems getting away today. Garry wanted her to help robbing the bottle shop in James Street and she had just disappeared. Zaza had promised to cover for her, but she would certainely have to face an angry Garry when she returned. Starlett pushed those thoughts aside. She had more important things to worry about right now.

Starlett sat down at a table in a far corner, watching the happenings in the pub. As it was early morning there weren't as many people there as had been the day before during late afternoon. After a time watching, it came to her attention that although quite many people were entering the pub and only few went outside, it didn't become crowded. Where did those people go? After she had watched a bit longer, she saw that they went into a backroom and seemed to disappear there. The next time an elderly woman in emerald green robes appeared in one of the fireplaces and headed to that section of the room, Starlett got up and followed her. They went into something like a backyard with a brick wall. The woman took out a long stick, a wand Starlett supposed, and tapped several of the stones. Starlett almost gasped in surprise when the bricks began to move and reveal an opening in the wall. Fortunately, the woman didn't turn around, instead she went straight through the archway. Starlett followed her and when she was through and looked around, her mouth stayed wide open.

She was in an alley with many old and crooked little houses. A sign told her, that she was in Diagon Alley. There where shops in all of the little houses in the alley. When Starlett read the signs above the shops' windows, she was sure she had found what she was looking for: Cauldrons – All sizes, Eeylops Owl Emporium, Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions, Ollivanders – Makers of Fine Wands since 382 BC. Starlett was astonished. All these people here had to be witches and wizards! She even saw some people doing magic. Slowly she went through the alley looking at each window she passed. It was overwhelming, she didn't know where to look first. When she saw a bookstore, she decided to begin there.

It was much bigger inside than it looked from the outside. There were hundreds of shelves of books that all went up till the ceiling. Curiously, Starlett went to the first bookshelf on her way and read the books' titles: There were books like The Standart Book of Spells (Grade 1-7), A History of Magic, A Beginner's Guide to Transfiguration, How to Brew Potions Correctly, The Dark Arts and Their Use in History. Starlett's happiness turned into despair. How was she supposed to choose any books from these? And when she had decided on some, how would she steal them? Her special abilities weren't special here. Starlett let herself fall on one of the armchairs in the shop and watched the other customers. She recognised the woman she had followed to Diagon Alley. She was standing in front of a bookshelf where a sign said "Transfiguration". Starlett wondered what that would be. Could it be making things be other things? She had never done something like that. The woman turned around and looked directly at Starlett. The stern look on her face turned into one of surprise and unbelief. Starlett didn't like the way she was looking at her and when there were people walking between them, she used the chance to get away and moved deeper into the bookstore.

To calm down, she grabbed a book in front of her - its title said "Hogwarts. A History" - and began reading. She learned that Hogwarts was a school where magical kids learned to do magic and that usually it was impossible to do magic without a wand. She was completely confused by what she had read and decided she should be returning to the "usual world". But she didn't want to go without books, so she just seized several more books and the one, she had been reading. She tried to hide them under her cloak and headed to the exit. Everything went well until she moved through the door. A loud alarm went off and everyone was looking at her. The books were bewitched in order to protect them from being stolen. When the bookstore's owner began to move towards her, Starlett turned and ran. She built up a protection field she had used to protect herself from being beaten, hoping it would hold whatever he would send after her. And it kept the curses away from her. But she couldn't run fast. People were standing in her way, blocking her and her pursuer came closer. Starlett turned around and let a bright beam shoot from her hand. It knocked the man out and gave her time to run. She generated a wave of lightning in the direction she was running that made the people back away and made place for her to run. Once she had reached the end of Diagon Alley, the wall opened in front of her because somebody was just coming through from the other side. Starlett knocked him down and continued on her way. She didn't stop running when she was outside the Leaky Cauldron. Only three streets away did she dare slow down and look over her shoulder to check wether she was still being followed. To be sure no one would be able to follow her, she didn't stop walking for the next two hours, carrying her stolen books like a treasure.

like a treasure.


	4. Report and OWLResults

**Star and Lightning**

**4th Chapter – Report and OWL-Results**

When Minerva arrived at Grimmauld Place 12, the headquarter of the Order of Phoenix, she was exhausted, both physically and mentally. In the hallway she saw Albus Dumbledore standing, talking to Molly Weasley.

"Albus, I need to talk to you." When she saw his hesitation, she added: "At once and alone, it is important."

Molly left, but not without looking worried and a bit curious at Minerva. "So, Minerva. What is it?" Albus asked while they were heading to a little conference room, they always used for important and secret conversations because it was the one best protected from overhearing. When they were in it and Albus had closed the heavy door, Minerva took a seat and began explaining:

"I was in Diagon Alley today, getting some books and other stuff, where I saw a young girl. She was about 15 or 16 years old, but she's not a Hogwarts student, I have never seen her before. She looked so much like Lily. It was incredible. Except that she had very dark, almost black, eyes and her hair was darker and less red, but she had the same face and the same petite figure. And she had a star-shaped scar on her forehead. But what happened then is unbelivable. You'll read it in the Daily Prophet tomorrow. She disappeared from my view again, she probably didn't like me staring at her. She tried to steal books from Flourish and Blotts. Of course, the alarm went off and Flourish chased her. And then she did wandless magic." She stopped talking for a moment and looked at him expectantly.

Albus scratched his nose, then asked: "Are you sure?"

"Yes, completely sure. At first, she produced a protection field around her, that protected her from Flourish's hexes and curses. And then she did some magic I didn't recognise as any spell. Beams of magic floated from her hands. And there was definitely no wand in her hand."

"And she managed to flee?" Albus asked.

"Yes. Everybody was a bit too shocked from her show of wandless magic to go on chasing her. She left through the Leaky Cauldron. Albus, who is this girl?"

He looked at an imaginary spider at the oppostie wall and said slowly: "I am wondering, wether it could be… Her dead body was never found."

Minerva gasped at this and looked like she had seen a ghost. Albus had just confirmed what she had been wondering all the time. When she had found her voice again, she said quietly: "But it can't be. If she was alive, her name would have appeared on the school list. Maybe not on Hogwart's list, but on any list. But it didn't, we checked it."

"I don't know who this girl is, but we must find her before Voldemort does. Wandless magic is a very powerful gift. You said, she was stealing books?" Minerva nodded. "Maybe she can't buy them, because she has no money. In this case, I am sure she will come back to steal more books. I must see this girl. We need to talk about this in the Order meeting. One Order member should always stay in Diagon Alley to call me when she comes back. I will be prepared to stop her and talk to her." With this plan made they got up to tell the other Order members about it.

* * *

Harry got up this morning like the mornings before. He was still tired but couldn't go back to sleep because he was being haunted by nightmares. Now he didn't only see his parents die, he also saw Sirius and his sister die. When he had put on his glasses, he saw a second owl in Hedwig's cage. He didn't know this owl, it was a quite small, black owl. While dressing, Harry couldn't stop wondering what this owl had brought. When he untied the letter from her leg and let the owl fly away again, he saw that it had brought his OWL-results. Though he had told himself a thousand times, that nothing mattered anymore and OWL-results didn't matter at all, he opened them curiously:

_Dear Mister Potter,_

_We're glad to send you your OWL-results. Please note, that the Astronomy Practical Test has been interupted and therefore was judged differently._

_Potions: **E**xceeds Expectations_

_Transfiguration: **O**utstanding_

_Charms: **E**xceeds Expectations_

_Defence against the Dark Arts: **O**utstanding_

_Herbology: **A**cceptable_

_Care of Magical Creatures: **E**xceeds Expectations_

_History of Magic: **D**readful_

_Astronomy: **A**cceptable_

_Divination: **D**readful_

_You have received 12 OWLs, where is: Acceptable 1 OWL, Exceeds Expectaions 2 OWLs, Outstanding 3 OWLs. Please note, that you have not passed the subjects, for which you received no OWL, and won't be able to continue them next term._

12 OWLs. That was really good. Only two subjects he hadn't passed and he had expected not to pass those. He was curious how many OWLs Ron and Hermione had got. Harry sat down at his desk to write letters to his friends. Without himself realising it, he had gotten over his grief and was ready to live again.

After sending Hedwig off with the first letter, Harry went down to eat breakfeast with the Dursleys. They weren't friendly to him and didn't help him overcome his grief but they didn't annoy him too much either. They remembered Moody's threat only too well and therefore let Harry alone most of the time. After breakfeast, Harry went up in his room to look wether Hedwig was back already and if he could send his second letter, but she wasn't. So he decided to go outside for a while. The sun was shining and it was comfortably warm outside. He took the book, Hermione had sent, with him, sat down on a bench in the park nearby and began reading.


	5. The First Meeting and Trouble Ahead

So, here are the next two chapters. Like it? Review, please! I didn't get any on the last two chapters…

Now it's getting exciting…

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**Star and Lightning**

**5th Chapter- The First Meeting and Trouble Ahead**

After two hours of running all through London, Starlett was feeling tired. She hadn't seen any suspicious persons for over an hour and after she had gotten rid of her cloak and stolen a bag to put the books in, she looked like a usual teenager again. She had reached an area, she usually avoided: one of those suburbs, where there were only neat little detatched houses and well cared-for gardens.When she saw a little tidy park at the end of the street, she decided to go in there and rest for some minutes. There, she could think about how to get back into the city and what to tell Garry. As it was a nice summer day, most benches were occupied by old pensioners or mothers with young children. On one bench, a boy around her age with black hair and a funny scar on his forehead sat reading. Starlett decided to sit down next to him. She stood in front of him and asked: "Excuse me. Can I sit next to you?"

Harry, who had become absorbed in his book, looked up startledly, then nodded and slided to the side in order to make room for her to sit. Starlett took off her bag and let herself drop on the bench. As she realised, that Harry had stopped reading and was looking at her, she turned her head and said: "My name's Starlett. And you're…?"

"Harry. Harry Potter." he answered.

"What are you reading?" Starlett asked curiously and tried to grab his book. Harry quickly put it away and muttered: "ehm, nothing. Really."

In order to change the topic, he quickly asked: "Are you new here? I've never seen you before."

Now it was Starlett's turn to block the question. She didn't want to tell him, that she lived on the street. "uhm, well… actually, I'm only visiting a friend."

They sat in silence for some time and no one dared taking out his/her books they were dying to read, afraid of what would happen, when the other read its title. Harry watched Starlett and noticed her scar. For some reason it fascinated him. He felt something around her that felt oddly out of place. He couldn't specify it at first, but then he realised that it was something he usually felt only at Hogwarts or in Diagon Alley: A lot of magic in the air. But this girl couldn't be a witch. She certainely didn't go to Hogwarts, he would have noticed her, but she had a London accent, so it was unlikely she would attend Durmstrang or Beauxbatons. And though Harry Potter was famous in the wizarding world, she hadn't reacted at all upon hearing his name.

Harry's train of thought was disrupted by his cousin Dudley's slimy voice: "Hey guys, look. Potter's got a girl-friend! What did you pay her to sit on that bench with you?"

Harry got up and growled: "Leave me alone. And to your information: no, she's not my girl-friend."

"And I decided to sit next to him on my own free will." Starlett added, now also standing and glaring at Dudley menacingly.

"You'd better be carefull, doll." Dudley said, trying to sound impressive and manly, but failing terribly. "He's a freak. You'd be better off with me."

"No thanks. I can asses people on my own." That said, Starlett turned around and grabbed her bag, ready to go. But Dudley's fat hand, forcefully seizing her shoulder, stopped her. She turned around and then things happened so fast, that afterwards nobody could say what really happened. In the end, Dudley lay whining on the grass and Starlett was gone. But Harry had clearly felt the magic that had been freed that moment. This girl was a witch. But, Harry wondered, had she really never heard his name before or just decided to act as if she hadn't? And why had she done magic out of school? He doubted, that she was already 17 and therefore allowed to do magic whenever she wanted. This girl was a complete mystery to him.

* * *

Starlett re-appeared in the middle of a crowded underground and let out the breath, she'd been holding. That had been close. She looked around her. Nobody seemed to have noticed her sudden appearance. She hadn't intended to arrive here, in fact, she had only thought about getting away from that fat pig that had been holding her. When she checked where this underground was headed, she realised how lucky she was. It was only ten more minutes to ride and five minutes to walk on feet to their place. This teleportating took a lot out of her and she wouldn't be able to do it again for some time. But because she luckily appeared in this underground, she would be still on time for the gathering. But she hadn't thought about an excuse, yet. Starlett frantically tried to think of an excuse, dreading the encounter with Garry.

She got off the underground at a nasty and grubby looking station. She climbed up the filthy staircase to reach a street that was just as dirty and grubby as the station. Slowly, Starlett made her way through the streets to the gang's meeting place. A knot of fear was forming in her stomache. She had already seen Garry's wrath and felt like running and never coming back. But if she didn't turn up now, he would take it out on Zaza; she was always made responsible for what Starlett did. Now Starlett wished, she hadn't gone to explore Diagon Alley. It would have safed her and Zaza a lot of trouble. Was having these books in her bag really worth facing Garry's rage? The last time, she had disappeared from a raid, he had made it clear that he wouldn't accept such behaviour again. But Garry couldn't really hurt her, could he?

Earlier than she had expected, Starlett arrived at the gathering place. When Zaza saw her, she dashed towards her and hugged her. Then she said soflty, so the others, who were already there, couldn't hear her: "You are in a lot of trouble this time. I've hardly seen Garry this angry. The raid went terribly wrong. The cops caught some of the boys and Garry himself got hurt. You'd better be very careful this evening not to anger him anymore."

Starlett gulped and nodded. This was worse than she had expected. Zaza took her bag to put it away safely. When she realised how heavy it was, she asked: "What do you have in here? Bricks?"

"No." Starlett shook her head and looked around nervousely. "Books. I've finally found what I've been looking for. I will tell you more later."

Zaza looked at her surprised but then turned her head to see Garry and the gang's beaters arrive. When Garry saw Starlett, he smirked threateningly and motioned Zaza to move away. Starlett got up to stand in front of him even though her legs felt like pudding.

"So, the miracle-girl is back." He said quietly. "Too bad, your miracles didn't help us today. I've told you, I don't want you wandering around anymore. Where have you been?" When Starlett didn't answer, he asked again, with anger in his voice: "Tell me, where have you been? Or do you want me to force the answer out of you?"

With this, he slapped her hard and Starlett fell down. She hadn't erected her protection field because she didn't want to anger him even more. Her cheek was burning but nevertheless Starlett got up again and stood in front of him proudly. She didn't realise that it was her way of standing up to him even though on the inside fear was eating her up, that enraged him so much. He burst forward and punched her forcefully but this time she had erected her field and he was pushed backwards. Furious, he attacked her once more but again couldn't reach her. Usually, he would have stopped then because he was afraid of what she might do with her powers, but all common sense had left his brain. So he kept attacking and his beaters joined him. Starlett was having problems fighting them off and panted heavily. They had managed to throw her down and were beating at her shields violantly. She knew, that if she let down her shields now, they would probably clobber her to almost dead. This couldn't go on forever. She had to fight them off. Starlett concentrated and let her magic flow to her hands. Then she set it free, to do whatever it did; she didn't try to control or direct it. Most of her attackers were blown away and landed up to ten meters away where they lay without stirring. At those who were still standing, she shot yellow flaming beams that made them stumble back and fall down. A bright shining light flashed upon the scene, bathing everything in an unreal blue light. Then it was over. There was a stunned silence and in the twilight of sunset nobody dared to move.

The quiet was interrupted when Zaza got up with Starlett's bag in her hand and quietly said: "Come on, Starlett. Let's get moving." They left the place and headed towards Zaza's little one-room apartement.


	6. Reactions

**Star and Lightning**

**6th Chapter - Reactions**

When Harry went to bed that evening, his thought were whirling around that strange girl. Who was she? She had only told him her given name, no surname and Starlett really was a weird name. Maybe she had it because of her scar? Anyhow, what about that scar? Where had she gotten it from? And how had she disappeared? He hadn't recognised the spell, she had used on Dudley. And then she must have apparated. But she looked so young, not older than he and his friends. And they'd learn apparating only this year. Harry found it impossible to clear his head from all thoughts like he was instructed to do. After what seemed like an eternity, he went to a troubled sleep.

Soon he was dreaming…

_A group of black-hooded people with white masks in front of their faces stood around a throne in a great hall, that seemed to be inside an old castle. They were whispering with each other while more black-hooded figures appeared. Suddenly, all whispering and rustling ceased as a tall figure entered and sat down on the throne. All the masked people, Deatheaters, went to bend in front of Lord Voldemort and kiss the hem of his robes, but he stopped them by shortly torturing the one, who was just kneeling in front of him, with the Cruciatus Curse. He stood and adressed his followers:_

_"We have no time for this now. I have been informed of what happened in Diagon Alley today. Lucius!" He called and one of the figures took a step forward. "I thought of you as a very loyal follower. But you failed to inform me. Why?" Before Lucius Malfoy could mutter an excuse, that would have been useless anyhow, he was writhing in pain from the Cruciatus Curse. Voldemort didn't wait for him to get up and stand back in line but called again: "Severus. What does Dumbledore know?"_

_"He doesn't have any clue, my lord." Severus Snape was now standing in front of him, head bent low. "But he wants to find her. He assumes, she will return to Diagon Alley." _

_"And I suppose, Diagon Alley will be thoroughly surveyed?"_

_"Yes, my lord."_

_"You can go back in line, Severus. We will leave the trouble of catching her to Dumbledore. She will find her way to us sooner or later."_

_This was all the Dark Lord said about this topic. He then came to several minor business concerning raids on Muggles and Muggle-borns. _

Harry woke up with a start. It had been some time since he last had visions from a Deatheater meeting. What had they been talking about? Which girl? But Snape knew and that meant Dumbledore knew, too. So he didn't need to worry about informing the Order of what he had seen. Questions where still whirling in his head but he was tired and therefore soon was sleeping again, this time a dreamless sleep.

* * *

Next morning at the Burrow, the Weasley family's home, Arthur, Molly and the remaining children, which were Fred, George, Ron and Ginny, were gathered at breakfast. Ron and Ginny were curious what the last Order meeting had been about, because it had lasted unusually long, but neither their parents nor their older brothers, who had joined the Order too, much to Molly's dislike, would tell them about it, they never did. When the wizarding newspaper, the Daily Prophet, arrived, Mr Weasley took it and gave the owl, which had delivered it, a Knut. He looked at the frontpaper and snorted: "It had to be on the frontpage. Ron, Giny, this is what the last Order meeting was about." He gave the newspaper to them and to Molly, who was looking at him accusingly, he said: "They would know anyhow. This isn't exactly a secret."

Ginny grabbed it and read aloud:

_Wandless Magician in Diagon Alley_

_Yesterday during late afternonn, an unknown young witch stole books from Flourish and Blotts. Of course, the theft was detected before she left the bookstore. The bookstore's owner, Mr Flourish, and some of his employes followed her out of the bookstore and along the Alley. Stunners, sent after her, were reflected and absorbed by a strong magical field around her. In order to accomplish her flight, the young girl then used some kind of magic that can only be classified as Wandless magic. Eye-witnesses confirm, that she was doing magic but had no wand in her hand. "The magic seemed to be coming from the tips of her fingers." one of them tells our reporter. Everybody being shocked, the young witch had the chance to escape._

_For more information, see pages 3 and 4_

Ginny lowered the article and first looked at Ron, who was as astound as she was, then at her parents and the twins.

"But wandless magic is supposed to be impossible, isn't it? We had it in Charms" Ron asked shakily.

"Yeah, it is supposed to be." His mother answered. "That's why Dumbledore wants to find this girl. But this is nothing for you to worry about." She hoped the topic was closed now. She didn't want her two youngest children worried.

"But," Ginny said slowly. "what if she is working for You-know-who? Wandless magic is a very powerful gift, isn't it?"

"Dumbledore will find her soon." Molly answered. "She won't work for You-know-who. And You-know-who didn't know of her till now. But now, let's eat breakfast and forget about it."

Now the topic was closed. But a bit of the worried atmosphere refused to leave


	7. Return to Diagon Alley

**Star and Lightning**

**7th Chapter – Return to Diagon Alley**

Severus Snape took a look at the clock in his Potions laboratory and sighed. It was almost time for him to take Molly Weasley's place and watch out for anything out of the ordinary in Diagon Alley. Severus understood the importance of finding that girl who had yesterday done wandless magic and bringing her on the Light Side. Nevertheless, he hated to leave his brewing Potion alone. And an unsolved problem was: From where would he watch Diagon Alley? He could hardly sit outside one of the many little cafeterias, as he never did this, it would arise suspicion. It was likely that this strange girl would return to get more books, so Flourish and Blotts probably was the best solution. But the Potions section was an unfavourable place to stay because it was too sealed off. He'd need to see the bookstore's entrance and as much of Diagon Alley as possible. The Transfiguration and Charms sections would be perfect, but he couldn't stay there for hours. The Dark Arts section would have to do it. From there you didn't see the alley as well as from the former two section, but you had a good view on the rest of the bookstore and nobody would suspect anything when he stayed there for several hours.

This decided, Severus got up and left his laboratory. In the hall, he seized a Phoenix feather, which could be used to alarm Dumbledore, and put it inside one of his robe's pockets. Then he stepped into his fire and flooed to Diagon Alley.

Stepping out of the fireplace he greeted Tom, the innkeeper, with a nodd of his head and headed towards the entrance to Diagon Alley. In the alley, he began searching for Molly Weasley to inform her that he was taking over. He saw her sitting outside a cute, little café, looking as if she was reading. But he knew she was in fact watching the alley. When he went by her, she looked up and caught his eyes for a short moment. With a slight nodd, she showed him that she had realised that she could go now. Severus didn't look back to see her paying her coffee and leaving. Instead, he went straight to Flourish and Blotts.

Severus quite enjoyed looking through all those books, though it was annoying that he couldn't fully concentrate on them but had to keep watching everything out of the corner of his eye. He was quite startled, when after one and a half undisturbed hours, he suddenly heard the well-known voice of Lucius Malfoy behind him.

"Ah Severus. I see, you have found your interest in the Dark Arts again."

"Lucius." Severus bowed his head slightly in greeting. "I am still hoping the old foul Dumbledore would finally give me the position as Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor. In case this happens, I want to be prepared."

Lucius seized an especially foul-looking book from one of the upper shelves, carressed its title and said: "I didn't know they had this one here… But when you look for the real Dark Arts, you should go to Knockturn Alley, you know that."

"It wouldn't be appropriate for a Hogwarts teacher to be seen there." Severus was getting nervous. Lucius was an old friend of him, but he didn't like him near when he was doing Order business. Lucius was clever and cunning and Severus was always afraid he'd notice, that he didn't support the Dark Lord anymore. As Lucius seemed in the mood for a talk, Severus shifted his position, so that he could still see the entrance to the bookstore over Lucius' shoulder. Resigning himself to his fate, he prepared for a long-lasting conversation.

* * *

Starlett was, again, on her way to Diagon Alley. After what had happened yesterday, Zaza and her hadn't talked much and went to sleep early. But in the morning, Starlett had told her everything about what she had seen and done. Although Starlett was afraid of going back to the alley, in fear she would be detected as the thief and Zaza would get in even more trouble because of her absence, Zaza convinced her to go back to Diagon Alley and assured her that she would be fine. She had felt, that, in fact, Starlett wanted to get to know that strange world that had opened to her, where she found what she had been looking for all her life: people that were like her.

That's why Starlett was now standing in front of the Leaky Cauldron, wearing a dark blue robe, Zaza had borrowed her, and having her long hair, she usually kept in a ponytail, open to cover a part of her face. She cast one last look at Zaza who stood at the other side of the street, smiling encouragely at her, then she breathed deeply and opened the door. Once inside, she quickly forgot all the trouble outside. The atmosphere had caught her. Like the last time, she followed someone to the alley, because she had no wand to open the archway on her own. She wanted to go to Flourish and Blotts again, in spite of the danger of being spotted, because after she had scanned the books, she already had, she was now looking for more precise information. But on her way there she went into several other shops and looked around. She was especially amazed by the Menagerie. There were so many animals one could have as a pet. Starlett found the snakes particularly interesting. But after she had watched them some time, she remembered why she had come to the alley in the first place and headed to the bookstore.


	8. Caught!

Wow, so many reviews! I'm glad you like my story!

To answer some reviews:

_Fiona_: I'm atteistic and don't belief in the supernatural. I just like to imagine magic could exist. In my story I am trying to descripe how doing magic feels to Starlett.

_danielradcliffsgirl_: I checked it, you're right. I'll change it, when I have some changes in the first chapter. I also realised that harry in fact lives in Surrey and I don't think that's a part of London, but I need Harry to meet Starlett, so I can't change that.

_martino_: thanks for the advice, I know it's quite unlikely but Dumbledore will come up with a good explanation. This one actually is my first Harry Potter fanfic and my first english fanfic. I've had many plots in my mind when I began writing this story and maybe I'll also write down one of the others when I'm done with this

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**8th Chapter – Caught!**

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office in Hogwarts and read applications for the post as Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher. Dolores Umbridge had left Hogwarts in a hurry at the end of the last term and had refused to come back. A smile appeared on his old face as he remembered the incidence. Thanks to the loyality of his students and staff he had Hogwarts back. But nevertheless, he needed to find a new teacher. The few who had applied till now came barely in question. He sighed and seized the next letter of application. This one was from a french witch, who had failed almost all common exams and whose english grammar was a catastrophy. The people must know how desperate Hogwarts needed a new professor, or else such guys wouldn't even apply. He would have to ask some Order members. Maybe he could convince Nymphradora Tonks or the real Mad-Eye Moody. They, at least, knew the subject.

Suddenly, a ringing sounded in his office. Albus got up quickly and looked at the Phoenix feather, he had put next to his Pensive. It was glowing. That meant, the strange girl was back in Diagon Alley. He went to his fireplace and flooed to the Leaky Cauldron.

When he stepped out of the fireplace, several people turned their heads to look at him, while he headed for the entrance to Diagon Alley. His appearance always arouse curiostiy, no matter where. He felt something he felt very seldom: a knot of nervosity in his stomache. As he didn't know what to expect, he felt uneasy. When he entered the Alley, he found everything the way it always was. Could this be a false alarm? But Severus should be here now. Certainely, he would check very carefully before sounding the alarm. Albus headed towards Flourish and Blotts, the most-likely place where she would be in his opinion. Right after entering, he saw Severus Snape in the Dark Arts section talking to Lucius Malfoy. Severus caught his curious gaze and looked in the direction of the Charms section. There, Albus saw a girl that was uncertainely rummaging through the books. She wasn't very tall, wore a dark blue robe and had her light-brown waist-long hair curling openly on her back. He went over to her casually and while seemingly reading the books' titles, watched her out of the corner of his eyes. When she turned in his direction, he looked into a face that remembered him of Lily Evans-Potter with dark, watchful eyes. Exactly like Minerva had described her, only the scar was missing. He decided to address her directly and asked friendly:

"Excuse me, Miss. You look familiar to me. Have I seen you here yesterday?"

Starlett froze in shock and didn't know what to answer. Had he recognised her? The bookstore's owner, who was carefully looking for the thief from yesterday, hadn't recognised her. She had covered her scar in Make-Up, so he couldn't have recognised her, could he?

When she found her voice, Starlett said quickly: "You must be mistaking me, Sir." and turned to go away.

But her reaction proved Albus' suspicion, so he seized her arm and said quietly: "I know that you have been here and stealing the books yesterday. Covering up your scar doesn't make you unnoticeable. Don't worry, I won't harm you."

Starlett looked at him wide-eyed. The old man looked at her with a friendly twinkle in his eyes and didn't look any frightening. Nevertheless, he had an aura of power around him. Starlett didn't know wether to trust him or not. Would he really not punish her? When she saw the bookstore's owner coming towards them staring directly at her, she panicked and broke free of his grip on her arm. She sprinted towards the exit, running down everybody, who happened to be in her way. Even though nobody touched them, the doorwings sprang open in front of her. Once out, Starlett looked around her and decided to melt within the crowd. Albus followed her out of the bookstore and lost her from view, but he sensed the magic, that whirled around her because of her emotional state. Starlett was in such a panic, that when somebody bumped into her, she shrieked and with a magical field pushed everybody around her at a distance. Of course, now she was clearly visible. She turned around to see Albus Dumbledore making his way through the crowd. It would have been reasonable to stay where she was but Starlett wasn't thinking sensibly any more and therefore tried to fight her way out. Wild magic flowing around her held everybody at bay: it made wands sparkle madly and all sorts of bewitched things go crazy. She directed one focused beam at Dumbledore but it didn't knock him out like she had expected, it was absorbed by a protection field around him. He didn't send any spells at her, he just smiled. Starlett was confused. She had openly attacked him and he only smiled. When she quickly looked around her, she realised, that she had run into the wrong direction; she was leaving the exit from the Alley. She was caught. Maybe the old man would have been friendly before she ran away and attacked him. He couldn't still be friendly now. What to do now? At a loss for anything else to do Starlett just turned around and ran. But soon she reached a dead-end. When she turned around, she saw that the old man had followed her. Without thinking she put all her power in one outburst of magic. It made everybody expect Albus Dumbledore fall down unconscious and it made plaster fly from the houses around and made the air thick with dust. When the air was clear again, Starlett stood, panting heavily, and the old man walked towards her slowly.

"My name is Albus Dumbledore. There is no need to be afraid of me. I only want to talk to you."

Starlett looked at him unbelieving. No lecture, no punishment. She was completely exhausted. There was no use trying to run away again and he still seemed friendly. Albus smiled reassuringly at the tired and frightened girl in front of him and asked: "What's your name?"

"Starlett." she said timidly.

"Well, Starlett. Let's go somewhere where we can sit down and talk a bit, shall we?" With a flick of his wand, the houses repaired themselves and he answered Starlett's guilty look at the people lying on the street: "They will recover. I don't think you did any permanent damage."

He softly seized her arm and led her back to Diagon Alley. Starlett went with him without resistance. Thoughts were whirling through her mind. One madder than the other. Maybe letting her belief that he wouldn't harm her and then hurting her when she expected it least was his idea of punishing her for all the confusion she had caused. Or maybe he wanted to question her first. But whatever his reasons were, she wouldn't trust him.

Back in Diagon Alley, Albus headed towards Florean Fortescue's Ice-Cream Parlour. Starlett looked at him quizically when he motioned her to sit down there. He just smiled and nodded. Hesitatingly she sat down. Mr Fortescue was at their side at once, looking curioulsy at Starlett. Dumbledore ordered an iced coffee and asked Starlett: "What would you like, dear? The same or a sundae?"

"I think, I'd take an iced coffee, too." Starlett had never had one before, but as she loved coffee, she supposed iced coffee wouldn't be too bad either.

"Well, I will tell you some things about me first and then you will answer me some questions, ok?" Albus asked. When Starlett nodded carefully, he began telling: "As I already told you, my name is Albus Dumbledore and I don't want to harm you. I am the Headmaster of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. That is where most young british witches and wizards learn how to do magic. Also, I was awarded several prizes and medals for saving the wizarding world and things like that."

In that moment, Fortescue reappeared with their iced coffees. When he was gone again, Albus continued: "I don't know what you want to know. So, why don't you just ask?"

Starlett thought for a moment, then asked: "You are more powerful than most wizards, aren't you?"

"Yes, I am."

She concentrated on her coffe, which was great by the way, for some time, then looked up with a frown and asked: "Why did you come after me? Surely not only because of the books I stole."

He looked at her thoughtfully and answered: "Starlett, maybe you don't realise what you can do. You can direct magic without a wand, without any spells. Most wizards need a wand and spells for everything. I can do some things without my wand, but not as powerful magic as you do. There's no living wizard or witch who can do as much without a wand as you can. Wandless Magic is a powerful gift. That's why I wanted to find you. "

She looked at him astonished. So, even in the wizarding world her abilities were special. She had suspected, that they weren't usual after reading the stolen books, but she hadn't expected that she could do something even one of the most powerful wizards couldn't. In her eyes, it wasn't that special.

Dumbledore broke the silence with a question: "You haven't lived in the wizarding world till now, have you?"

"No, I found the Leaky Cauldron only three days ago."

"You know, I wondered why you weren't found earlier. Usually, at the age of eleven all children with magic abilities get a letter from Hogwarts."

"Well, letters would hardly reach me." Starlett said, laughing sadly.

Dumbledore looked at her sharply. "Where do you live?" She didn't answer. "You live on the street, don't you?" he asked with concern in voice.

"Yes, I do" Starlett answered angrily and looked away. "Why are all those people staring at me?"

A huge crowd had gathered around the Ice-Cream Parlour and were watching Albus Dumbledore and the strange girl from a distance. Albus sensed her discomfort and called Fortescue to pay. Then they got up and he led Starlett back to the Leaky Cauldron. When they stood in front of the fireplaces, he explained: "Look, these fireplaces are used for transportation."

"I know." she interrupted. "I've seen people using them."

Albus chuckled quietly, in spite of her irritability. "Ok, just take this Floo powder. Throw it into the fireplace. Then you step in and say loudly and clearly 'Dumbledore's office'. You will arrive in my office in Hogwarts. I will come after you. We can continue our conversation there."

Starlett hesitated shortly. If she did this, she would depend on this man to come back. But first of all it would be difficult for her to get away now and second despite her anxiety she was curious. So she threw the Floo powder into the fireplace and took one step foreward.

Albus watched her go and smiled. She trusted him at least a bit. That was a beginning. Then he followed her.


	9. Conversation

So, here's the next chapter

_daniel-radcliffs-girl_: I don't write what you **want**. Sorry, but it's me who decides how the story goes on. But Harry and Starlett will meet again in the next chapter

_Rahne Dechenes_: twin sister is written with a space? Ok, didn't know

Thanks also to the other reviewser, I didn't mention

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**9th Chapter - Conversation**

Fawkes, the Phoenix, sat on his perch in Albus Dumbledore's office. He was in the middle of his life circle and looked gorgeous: shining scarlet and golden feathers, a long and splendid tail and sparkling black eyes. He was watching the pensive, Albus had left outside. Fawkes was fascinated by everything glimmering that moved and the silver strains whirling in the pensive were especially fascinating. When he heard a faint rustle coming from the fireplace, Fawkes raised his head and curiously watched the flames. Then a young girl came stumbling out of the fireplace. She coughed and shook the dust off her dark blue robe. When she looked up, she looked directly in Fawkes eyes.

Black eyes were caught in black eyes. Then Starlett smiled and said: "You're a real beauty." Fawkes bent his long neck and whistled softly. Starlett laughed quietly and took some steps foreward to touch the tender feathers at his head. In response he pressed his head against her hand and made soft cooing noises.

Unnoticed by both of them, Albus Dumbledore had left the fireplace after Starlett. He smiled at the scene in front of him. Quietly, in order not to startle them, he said:

"I see, you've met Fawkes, my Phoenix."

"This is a Phoenix? They really exist?" Starlett asked unbelieving and took a closer look at Fawkes.

"Yes, they do exist. Now, come. Let's sit down and talk about you."

Starlett sighed and settled herself in an armchair Dumbledore had just conjured. Her irritability had ebbed away after her short cuddling with the Phoenix.

"So Starlett, why don't you tell me something about yourself? For example, how you came to live on the street and how long you've been doing magic."

"I was abandoned almost 15 years ago when I was about one year old. Zaza found me and took care of me. I've lived on the street almost all my life. I have no idea where I came from or who my parents are. And I've begun controlling my magic around five years ago."

"Who's Zaza?"

"Sort of my mother."

"Ah, well." Then he seemed to remember something and hold a small bowl filled with sweets in front of her. "Lemon drop?"

Starlett hesitated for a moment, then bent forward and took one. Albus settled back in his chair and asked: "Starlett, would you like to go to school? You have missed five years of schooling, but you shouldn't have too many problems catching up on the other students."

She looked by him at Fawkes for a moment and aswered: "Hogwarts is a boarding school, right?" When Albus nodded, she continued. "I read about in 'Hogwarts. A History'. I… I'd like to learn how to do magic properly but…" she stopped and again focused on Fawkes. When the Phoenix flattered his wings encouragingly, she continued. "I can't stand being told what to do and what not to do. I hate being regulated. And I'm sure Hogwarts has a lot of rules." Now she looked directly at Dumbledore again.

He sighed and answered: "That's true. There are a lot of rules at Hogwarts. But maybe we can soften some of them a bit. And isn't learning worth some trouble? Starlett, this is your chance to get away from the street."

Starlett was thinking. His offer was tempting. Even if attending Hogwarts meant leaving Zaza. She would finally have a chance to learn. Zaza would understand her. But she still didn't completely trust this wizard and then she remembered something else.

"Aren't you going to punish me? For stealing books and causing a hell lot of trouble?"

Albus smiled and said: "You stole the books because you had no money and wanted to learn. I won't punish you for your desire to learn. And the chaos, you caused, wasn't your fault. You came into a completely strange world. It is natural to act nervous and easily panicked under those circumstances."

Starlett watched him with a frown, then nodded. She wasn't convinced yet, but she began to trust him. When she looked out of the window, she realised it was already late afternoon. She stood up and said: "I must go home. Zaza will be worried."

Dumbledore got up, too, and lead her to the fireplace. "Please think about my offer. And please promise me to came back to the Leaky Cauldron tomorrow. I want to show you the school and we can clarify some more things. If you want, you can bring Zaza along. Now, promise me, please."

"I promise. And I'm sure Zaza will love to see all this."

"Okay. Now, you know how to use Floo powder."

With a smile he handed the powder box to her. Starlett smiled back and after waving goodbye to Fawkes disappeared in the flames.


	10. The Second Meeting

So many reviews! That encourages me to write faster ;-)

_gboyary:_ I'm glad, your expectations didn't come true :)

_resaispoe:_ I could make longer chapters, but then there would be longer breaks between the updates. So you'll have to wait anyhow. I think, I'll just keep this length.

_dovasery:_ well, here is the next one. But now you'll have to wait again. ;-)

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**Star and Lightning – 10th Chapter**

"Potter! Come down in the kittchen at once!"

Harry put the homework, he had been doing, aside and left his room, wondering what his aunt wanted him to do. The Dursleys barely spoke to him at all during these holidays, so why did she call him now? When he arrived in the kittchen, he saw that all three Dursleys were ready to leave.

"Potter," his uncle addressed him. "we need to go shopping in the city. I don't trust you to stay at home alone, so you will come with us."

"Oh, do I have to?" Harry prefered staying at home on his own in stead of going shopping with his relatives when he anyhow wouldn't be allowed to buy anything.

"No argument. You are to come with us. Go upstairs again and put on some suitable clothes. We will leave in five minutes."

Harry resigned and went upstairs to his room. There, he quickly changed in a pair of new jeans and a black T-Shirt. He didn't even try to flatten his hair, it was useless.

When he was downstairs again, he was ushered into the car by his aunt Petunia. Dudley didn't look very happy to have to sit next to Harry, but he had no choice.

During the drive there was a frigid silence. When they got stuck in a traffic jam, uncle Vernon had enough. Frustrated he slammed his hands on the steering wheel and asked angrily: "Why does there have to be a jam right now? Things like this only happen, when this freak is with us!" As it was a hot day and the Dursleys' car was black, perspiration was running down his forehead as he turned around to look at Harry.

Harry defended himself: "How is this jam my fault? It wasn't my idea to drive shopping now!" But he knew that they would blame him anyhow, so he didn't say anything more.

When they finally arrived at the shopping center, all of them were hot and irritated. Harry tried not to do anything to get their attention. And he succeeded. The Dursleys were so busy with themselves that they ignored Harry. Petunia needed a new dress for the ball celebrating 'Ten years Grunnings', Vernon's enterprise, and stayed in one shop for ages. Harry was bored and didn't like the stuffy air inside the boutique, so he went outside and sat down on the pavement, watching the people passing by.

Suddenly, he heard a familiar female voice. It was none of his close friends from Hogwarts, but he had heard it somewhere before. He looked around to see where the voice was coming from and saw the girl he had met in the park two days ago, the one that had knocked Dudley down and then disapparated. What had been her name? Right, Starlett. She was talking to an elder woman with green hair while they were eating chips. Should he go over and talk to her? He was still wondering about her and this would be his chance to ask her some questions. Harry peeked inside the boutique one last time to make sure the Dursleys were still busy, then walked over to the two women.

* * *

Starlett was just telling Zaza of her promise to Dumbledore to come back to the Leaky Cauldron and his offer that Zaza could come, too, when a black-haired boy spoke to them. It was the one, she had met in the park, after her first visit to Diagon Alley. Harry, that was his name

"Hi, Starlett. Remember me?"

Starlett nodded and said: "You're Harry, right? This is Zaza. Zaza, I met him two days ago, after… you know what."

Zaza nodded and looked at him curiously. Harry didn't know where to begin and there was an awkward silence. Then he decided to be direct: "You're a witch, aren't you?"

Starlett was surprised. "How do you know?"

Harry smiled and said: "You did magic right under my nose. I'm a wizard, I recognise magic when I see some. I've been wondering: Which school do you attend? I have never seen you at Hogwarts."

"I, uhm, I didn't go to school till now." She answered hesitatingly.

"So, you have been home schooled?"

"Not exactly." was her vague answer. Now Harry was none the wiser, but still curious. But he didn't know what else to ask, so he began to tell of himself.

"That git, who grabbed you, was my cousin Dudley. He's always that macho-like and tries to impress girls. But you should have seen him after you disappeared. He was whining like a puppy and was afraid to go out the whole next day."

They laughed and then Starlett asked: "Do you live with your cousin?"

"Yeah, I live with him and my aunt and uncle. My parents are dead." He said sadly.

"Oh. Well, we have something in common then: We both live without our parents. I don't even know mine."

"Did they die when you were very young?"

"I don't know wether they are dead. I don't even know their names."

They were silent for a short time. Then Harry asked: "When did you get your Apparating Licence? Aren't you still a bit young?

Starlett frowned and asked: "My what?"

"Your Apparating Licence. You apparated away."

She didn't have to answer this question, because Petunia had finally decided on a gown and the Dursleys were leaving. Vernon bellowed: "Potter! Come here, we're leaving."

Harry quickly bade Starlett and Zaza goodbye and then followed his relatives. Fortunately, Dudley didn't recognise Starlett as the girl who had humilated him so much two days ago.

Starlett sighed, when Harry was gone and whispered: "That was close. How am I supposed to know what an Apparating Licence is?"

"We can ask Dumbledore." Zaza suggested. "Apropos, we should get going to this pub now."

Starlett nodded and together they headed for the Leaky Cauldron.


	11. The Past Revealed

Great you all like my story!

But I have to disappoint you, this will be the last update for more than a week. I go on holidays tomorrow and won't be back till next Sunday. But hopefully, I come home with the next chapters ready.

Now it will finally be confirmed what everybody has known since the first chapter. ;-)

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**11th Chapter – The Past Revealed**

Zaza and Starlett entered the Leaky Cauldron and Starlett headed straight for the counter while Zaza looked around. Starlett asked the innkeeper to call Dumbledore and then both of them sat down on barstools. Starlett was just explaining travelling by Floo powder to Zaza, when Albus Dumbledore stepped out of one of the fireplaces. He smiled and greeted them: "Hello Starlett. Good to see you again. And you must be Zaza."

Zaza smiled in return and took his hand. She was a bit nervous. "Yes, I am. Nice to meet you, Sir."

"Let's go to my office. Did Starlett explain to you how to use Floo powder?" he asked Zaza while leading them towards the fireplaces.

"Yeah, she did."

"Ok then. Starlett, you go first. I will follow after you, Zaza."

Zaza gasped when Starlett disappeared in the flames, then she slowly followed her.

In Dumbledore's office, Fawkes flew over to Starlett and settled on her shoulder. She smiled at him and cuddled him a bit, before sending him off again and sitting down in an armchair. When everybody was seated, Albus began speaking:

"I promised to show you around Hogwarts and answer all your questions and I'll do this, but not right now. I hope, you have enough time?" When both of them nodded he continued. "At first, I would like to run some tests on you, Starlett."

"What sort of tests?" she was mistrustful now. Being tested by adults had always been a disaster, not that there had been many tests.

Albus sensed her discomfort and tried to reassure her. "Only some tests to see how powerful your magic is and a relationship test. No need to be worried."

"A relationship test? I have no relatives."

"But you might have. Maybe you already read about it. During the time you were born, there was a war going on in the wizarding world. Until 15 years ago, Lord Voldemort, the Dark Sorcerer we were fighting against, was defeated by Harry Potter."

"Harry Potter?" Starlett asked unbelieving. "Are there two Harry Potter's or was he really only a baby then?"

"Did you meet him?" she nodded and he explained: "Yes, he was only one year old. Anyway, many families were torn apart in that time and many children lost their parents or parents lost their children. So it might be possible that you are one of the children that got lost. You remind me of a young witch who once was a student at Hogwarts. She and her husband died 15 years ago and their daughter was never found, neither dead nor alive. I would just like to test wether you are their daughter."

Starlett nodded hesitatingly, while Zaza shifted in her chair uncomfortabely and asked: "How would you test that? I mean, don't you usually need both people you want to test to be present?"

"In this case, no. I have prepared a potion that has something of Starlett's possible parents in it. Only a bit of her blood is missing."

"Blood?" Zaza cried. "You want to slit Starlett for her blood?"

"Calm down, Zaza. I'm sure there is not much blood needed, is there?" Starlett asked.

"No. A drop of blood from your finger tip will do it. Do you want to do the test?"

Starlett looked at Albus and thought. Her parents were dead anyhow, so what good would it be to know who they were? But on the other hand, she was curious about her own past. And it wouldn't hurt to know it. So she answered: "Yes, let's do it."

Albus got up to take something out of a cupboard and came back with a small cauldron in which a silver substance was bubbling. He explained: "This is the potion. When it turns blue, after adding your blood, you are related, when it turns red, you are not. Ready?"

Starlett nodded and stung herself with a needle. Albus excitedly watched the blood drop falling. If she really was the missing Potter, this would allow several new possibilities in the fight against Voldemort. And Harry would get somebody back who was thought dead.

When the potion turned a shining blue, Albus let himself sink back into his chair and let out the breath he had been holding. Zaza and Starlett also settled back in their armchairs and looked expectantly at him.

"So, who are my parents?" Starlett asked, when he didn't say anything.

"James and Lily Potter. You are Harry Potter's twin sister Elisha." There was silence in the room, then Dumbledore asked: "That scar on your forehead, for how long have you had this?"

"She already had it when I found her." Zaza answered.

"And does it hurt sometimes?"

"Yeah, expecially during the last two years it did. But not for some time now. Why do you ask?" Starlett said.

"I suppose, some explanations are in order." He said and leaned forward on his desk. "Both Lily and James Potter were members of an organisation that, under my leadership, fought Lord Voldemort, whom most people only call You-know-who because of fear to speak his name. At Hallowe'en 1982 he came to kill the Potters. A spy had warned us and your parents went into hiding with Harry and you. But they were betrayed, someone told Voldemort where to find you. Your parents fought against him, but were both killed. Then Voldemort directed his wand at Harry but for unknown reasons he couldn't kill him. Instead the curse backfired and almost killed Voldemort. He was gone for 13 years. That's why Harry is famous.

"When I and some others arrived, we found your parents dead, little Harry alive and no trace of you. But I suppose history needs to be rewritten a little. All that is left on Harry from the curse is a lightning-shaped scar on his forehead that hurts whenever Voldemort is very angry or very happy about something. As you have a similar scar, I assume that it was both of you who reflected the curse, both of you who defeated Lord Voldemort. Though I have no idea, how you disappeared."

There was a stunned silence in the office while everyone was following his own thoughts. Then Zaza spoke: "I found her two days after Hallowe'en, somewhere near the Themse, but I'm not sure where exactly. She was crawling through the grass and looked like a mess. When I was sure, that there was no mother around, I took her. It's a miracle for a one-year old baby to survive two days completely alone."

"I'm the miracle-girl, remember?" Zaza and Starlett both laughed and Albus smiled. Then Starlett asked: "So, when is my birthday?"

"The 31st of July. I'm afraid you just missed your 16th birthday." Then he became serious. "Did you think about my offer? Would you like to come to Hogwarts?"

"uhm, I think I might." was her uncertain answer.

"Well, then I will show you two around Hogwarts now, if that's okay with you?" When they nodded, he got up and led them out of his office to show them around the school and tell Starlett, or Elisha, how great Hogwarts is, hoping she would aggree to come.


	12. Reunion with Friends and Seeing the Cast...

So and here they are: 6 new chapters!

It's incredible how much work one can get done when one is undisturbed.

As you see, I've titled the chapters, because I couldn't remember what happened in which chapter anymore

Please enjoy reading and review!

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**12th Chapter – Reunion with Friends and Seeing the Castle**

Harry Potter was sitting in the Dursley's living room, eagerly awaiting the arrival of some Order members that would come to get him to Grimmauld Place. Even though he wasn't very fond of the idea of going back to the old Black Mansion where so much reminded him of Sirius, he was looking forward to leaving the Dursleys and seeing his friends again. He just hoped that they wouldn't try to console him, because in his opinion he was almost over Sirius' death and didn't want to think about it during the time with his friends. He was wondering how they would get to the Order's Headquarters, hopefully not by riding on broomsticks like the last time. As he heard the bell ringing, he jumped up to open the door. Nymphradora Tonks and Professor Snape stood in front of him. Tonks, whose hair was orange and shoulder-length this time, smiled broadly and greeted him warmly while Snape only nodded and growled quietly. The Dursleys stayed in the kittchen and out of the way while Tonks and Snape got Harry's things downstairs. When Harry's heavy trunk, his Firebolt and Hedwig's cage stood in the Hallway, Tonks said:

"Well, Harry. You might want to say goodbye to your relatives. And then we will use a portkey, Dumbledore made us one."

Harry nodded and poked his head in the kittchen saying: "Bye. See you next summer."

When he touched the worn-out sock, that was used as a portkey, he felt the familiar pulling at his navel and shortly afterwards appeared in front of the old house that was Grimmald Place 12.

Slowly, he went up the stairs that led to the old black door. After Snape had slightly tapped the door with his wand in order to open it, Harry took a final deep breath and entered. Once inside, he didn't have much time to look around the familiar hall because Molly Weasley hugged him tightly and ushered him inside the kittchen where Ron and his sister Ginny were already sitting. Ginny blushed a little and nodded greetingly while Ron smiled warmly and said:

"Hi mate! Good to see you again. Hermione will arrive soon, too. Ginny and I could convince mum to let us all stay here again, for the Burrow isn't safe for you anymore and you shouldn't stay here all alone. I hope, your summer wasn't too bad?"

Harry was just starting to answer when the door burst open again and Hermione appeared in the kittchen. After she had greeted everyone, she sat down between Ron and Ginny and said excitedly: "Sure, you all read about that wandless magician in Diagon Alley? I investigated a bit, of course only with the help of my own books, and found out that Merlin was the last known wizard who could do real wandless magic. Imagine, a witch of our age doing magic not even Professor Dumbledore is able to do!"

"Would somebody inform me please of what happened?" Harry interrupted her.

Hermione looked at him feeling guilty and explained: "Yeah, right. You don't get the Daily Prophet. I will give you a summary. As I said, some days ago a young witch did wandless magic in Diagon Alley. She was stealing books from Flourish and Blotts and fled using wandless magic. One day later, she returned to the alley, but Professor Dumbledore got her and talked to her. What they talked about or who she is wasn't written in the Daily Prophet"

"The Order knows it, of course." Ron added. "But nobody tells us anything."

"Do you know what she looks like?" Harry asked. Ginny got up to get the Daily Prophet from some days ago and showed him a picture that showed Starlett and Albus Dumbledore in Diagon Alley. Thoroughly looking at the photograph, Harry mumbled: "Starlett. The scar is missing, but this is definitely her."

"What did you say?" Ron asked curiously.

"I know this girl, I've met her twice. Her name's Starlett. I've been wondering about her." He stopped and looked up at his friends who were leaning foreward on the table and looking at him expectantly. So, he continued: "The first time I met her in the little park near the Dursley's house. She knocked Duldey out magically and then disapparated. At least, that's what I think, she did, because when I met her the second time and asked about her Apparating Licence she didn't know what I was talking about."

"Well, maybe she's never done one. I mean, nobody can have taught her how to do wandless magic so maybe she taught herself how to apparate. And besides, she hid herself very well from the ministry so I don't think she cared about an Apparating Licence." Hermione offered as an explanation.

Ginny, who had been silently watching the photograoh, suddenly said: "What do you think, doesn't she look a bit like Harry's mum?"

All of them gathered around the picture again and Harry found some similarities. A thought came to his mind but he quickly pushed it aside. It couldn't be, it was impossible. His sister was dead. He didn't even want to get his hopes up.

"Must be a conicidence." He quickly said and settled back in his chair. He had been going to tell his friends of his lost twin sister but he didn't want them to think the same as he did and therefore he said nothing about it. He would tell them later, when they'd know for sure that it wasn't her. After dinner, they all went upstairs to their rooms and kept talking about OWLs, school and their holidays till midnight.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore was showing Starlett and Zaza, who looked around in astonishment, the Great Hall and explaining about the House Tables, as they met Minerva McGonnagal.

"Ah, Minerva." He greeted her. "May I introduce you to Starlett, originally Elisha Potter, and Zaza. Starlett, Zaza, this is Professor McGonnagal, Professor for Transfiguration and Head of Gryffindor House."

McGonnagal looked a bit surprised and asked: "So, it really is her?" Dumbledore nodded confirmingly and explained to Starlett: "Professor McGonnagal was the first one to suspect that you might be the missing Potter."

"I've seen you on my first time in Diagon Alley." Starlett addressed the Professor who nodded and replied: "Yes. That's right."

Starlett was a bit shy in front of this stern witch, but she still asked: "You were reading books about Transfiguration and you teach it. I've been wondering, what is that, Transfiguration?"

"Transfiguration is the Art of Changing the Outer Form of Things, for example turning shoes into hats or tables into pigs. You look a lot like your mother, but you have your fathers eyes, Miss Potter." Then she directed a question at Dumbledore: "Do you have any idea why she wasn't listed?"

"She hasn't had a regular home. Maybe that's the reason, but I'm not sure, yet. I will investigate exactly how the spells on the school lists work and hopefully I will find an explanation by doing so."

Professor McGonnagal accompanied them on the rest of the tour. She wanted to get to know this girl. Many things, she did, reminded her of young Lily Evans, less of James Potter. But some things were also completely different. For example, she was always watching her surroundings very carefully and though she was curious and wanted to know things like Lily did, she never forgot that she was in a completely strange surrounding with people, she didn't know and whom she probably didn't trust, when learning new things. She hoped that Miss Potter would decide for Hogwarts. She was a powerful witch and she would have the chance to develop her abilities and her personality at Hogwarts. The street wasn't a favourable place for a young girl to grow up. Besides, this girl could become really dangerous if she fought for Lord Voldemort. As long as she was in Hogwarts, Voldemort couldn't reach her.

At the end of the tour, Albus Dumbledore said seriously: "I've tried to explain the wizarding world's current state to you. Lord Voldemort will try to eliminate you for your powers are a real danger to him. At Hogwarts, you are safe. Please, I ask you to come to Hogwarts, to train your magic and learn about it and to stay safe."

"I will think about it, but I think I will. I want to learn" Starlett answered honestly. "And I would like to meet Harry."

"I will arrange for him to be there tomorrow. We will meet in the Leaky Cauldron again." He smiled. Harry would be overly excited to meet his thought dead twin sister.

Like the last time, Starlett and Zaza flooed to the Leaky Cauldron from where they entered Muggle London.


	13. The Kidnapping

**Star and Lightning**

**13th Chapter – The Kidnapping**

Starlett and Zaza were silently walking the streets, both deep in thought. A decision was forming in Starlett's mind. She would attend Hogwarts. Even though she had missed five years of shooling she didn't expect it to be too difficult. If somebody was laughing about her because she couldn't do some spell, she would throw away the wand and knock him out without moving a bit. She could do things not even Albus Dumbledore could, so no one would laugh about her. Zaza on the other hand didn't know what to think of all this. Her little star was probably the most powerful witch on earth and would probably soon attend a school were she would learn to do even more of this surreal stuff.

When they were near Zaza's little flat, she suddenly spoke: "So, to sum up: You are probably the most powerful witch on earth, are the twin sister of the greatest hero of the wizarding world and defeated the most evil wizard that ever existed at the age of one."

"Yup." Starlett nodded.

"Anyhow, what should I call you now? In fact, you aren't Starlett but Elisha."

"I don't know, I just don't know. I mean, I'm glad that I can finally learn about this magic, but… "

Starlett didn't finish her sentence because in this moment, a ring of black-hooded figures with white masks covering their faces surrounded them. She looked around slightly panicked, remembering Dumbledore's warning. Without announcement, the black-hooded figures suddenly began attacking them. Starlett built up a protection field but she needed a lot of strength to keep it up. She wanted to defend herself, but in order to do this she would have to turn down the field but this meant leaving Zaza unprotected. She was in a dilemma. She hoped that Dumbledore would appear. He would be able to help her. She thought about trying to flee. But she didn't have enough power to disapparate herself and Zaza and simultaneously keep up the protection fielt against that many opponents. Therefore her only options were to fight or to give up. And she was no quitter. That's why she let the great field disappear and built up only a little one around Zaza, but she wasn't sure for how long she would be able to hold it, and she sent flashing beams of magic towards her attackers. As there were that many, she always hit somebody, who fell unconcious to the ground. But protecting Zaza, defending herself and dodging or blocking all spells sent for her was exhausting. Some spells, that hit her, left wounds that hurt like hell. She felt the protection field around Zaza grow weaker and her attention fleeing. She would have been able to defend herself against some of her opponents but there were too many. When she didn't see a stunner coming from behind, it hit her in the back. She saw only darkness and sank down on the ground breaking her wrist. Zaza shrieked when she saw her fall and heard bones crack, but was shortly afterwards stunned herself.

The Deatheaters' leader seized Starlett and Zaza and took them to Serpent Castle by portkey while the other Deatheaters each grabbed one of their fallen comrades and disapparated.

* * *

Harry went to bed this evening feeling very tired. It was after midnight and he had talked with his friends till now. But unlike the evenings of the last four weeks, he was happy. Being with his friends ment a lot to him. Ron was already snoring in the bed next to him and short time later Harry was fast asleep, too. He immediately began to dream. About him and his friends being in Hogwarts and trying to explain why they were wearing only swimsuites and then suddenly swimming in an open-air swimmig pool in winter with their Hogwarts robes on. Suddenly, the peaceful atmosphere of his dreams was disturbed. He was pulled in a cold darkness and when he reappeared, he was in a great hall of an old castle.

_Lord Voldemort stood in front of his throne and roared at his followers: "You were supposed to bring her unharmed! Not bleeding and with broken bones!"_

_"My Lord," Bellatrix Lestrange tried to explain. "she fought us for at least 15 minutes. She is extremely good at wandless magic. It was impossible to get her without hurting her."_

_"You had order to avoid a fight." He screamed while Bellatrix was writhing with pain from the Cruciatus Curse. "How uncapable are you? Having trouble catching a 16-year old girl!"_

_None of the Deatheaters dared mention that this was a very powerful 16-year old girl. They knew to shut up when their Lord was this angry. Voldemort then called those foreward whom Starlett had defeated. Shakily about 20 worn-looking Deatheaters went to stand in front of him. He punished them all. Seeing 20 figures crawling in front of his feet and writhing with pain seemed to please him and take a part of his wrath away. _

_Bellatrix, who had been leading the group, stood in front of him, head bent low, after the punished, almost unconcious Deatheaters had been brought away. "My Lord, I have pleasant news for you. Before the attack, we overheard the girl talking to the woman. This girl is Elisha Potter, the lost twin sister of Harry Potter."_

_"Elisha Potter?" The Dark Lord asked contently. "This really is good news. Lucius!"_

_Bellatrix went back to stand in line with a new confidence while Lucius Malfoy left the line._

_"I want you and some others of your free choice to question the muggle woman. Don't hurt her, use Verisaterum. I want to know every aspect of the girl's life and what Dumbledore told them"_

_Then he turned his head to look at Avery Nott: "Avery, take care of the girl and heal her wounds. But don't answer any of her questions. I hope, you are capable of brewing and using the Healing Potions correctly. Too bad, Severus is not to be trusted anymore…"_

Harry woke up covered in sweat. Lord Voldemort had his twin sister and Dumbledore didn't know because Voldemort didn't trust Snape anymore. Or could this be a trick again? It was quite unlikely that his sister was alive, but Starlett, the wandless magician, did look like his mother a lot. And the scar! She must have gotten it at the same time he had.

Harry jumped out of his bed and hurried down the stairs. When he stood in the dark hallway, he realized that he had no idea where to find Dumbledore or any other Order member. Who would be in the Headquarters at two o'clock in the morning? But then he heard a soft sound from the kittchen. He ran over to the kittchen and stormed inside. Albus Dumbledore sat there with Professor Snape. They both looked up startled and Snape snorted disparagingly. Harry ignored him and strode over to Dumbledore:

"Professor Dumbledore! He's got Starlett! Voldemort has got my sister!"

"Calm down, Potter." Snape said disencouragingly. "If he had, I would know about it and I don't know of any recent kidnappings."

"He doesn't trust you anymore. I've just had a vision. Voldemort punished Lestrange for taking too long to get her and ordered someone to heal her wounds, but not Snape because he doesn't trust him anymore. And Lestrange said, the girl's name was Elisha Potter. You must believe me, Professor!" Harry directed his last words at Dumbledore. He was angry. His sister was in grave danger and Snape refused to believe him.

"I believe you, Harry. This is a really serious matter. We found out that Starlett, the wandless magician, is in fact Elisha Potter only today. I didn't expect Voldemort to react that fast. Harry, go back to bed please. I will take care of this matter."

"But professor…" Harry protested. He couldn't go to bed now.

"No buts Harry. You can't help her by staying awake all night. Go to bed."

Harry resigned and slowly went up to his room. How was he supposed to sleep now? With the knowledge that his twin sister has been alive all the time and maybe won't live much longer. And then he became mad at Professor Dumbledore. Why hadn't he protected her? He must have known that she would be Voldemort's next target. In his room, Harry lay down on his bed, but didn't go to sleep till sunrise. Thoughts were whirling in his mind and he kept listening to the sounds downstairs.


	14. Meeting Voldemort

**Star and Lightning**

**14th Chapter – Meeting Voldemort**

Starlett was terrified and hurt. Those guys, that had caught her, had brought her in a tiny, dark cell. The air was cold and wet, quite like inside an old dungeon she had once visited. She was worried. She didn't know where Zaza was or what would happen to her now. She should have stayed at Hogwarts where she was safe. There was a throbbing pain at the back of her head and her broken wrist hurt like hell. Almost every part of her body seemed to be covered with small, bleeding wounds. Starlett was shivering, from cold as well as from pain and fear. Suddenly, she heard footsteps in the hallway that stopped in front of her door. Carefully, Starlett moved in a corner of her cell. After some time, the door was opened and a dark figure with a white mask in front of his face entered. He said quietly:

"I will heal your wounds. No questions."

Starlett thought about trying to escape. But though she still had enough power to knock him out, there would surely be more guards and she had no idea where she was or how to get out of here. So she stayed where she was.

The man hold a vial filled with a dark green potion in front of her face. Starlett asked: "What is it?" The man didn't answer, he only ordered: "Drink!"

After hesitating shortly, Starlett did. It tasted terribly, but it eased her pain.When the man muttered a spell to heal her wrist, Starlett asked: "Where am I? Why did you bring me here?" With a quick motion, he re-broke her wrist and as Starlett was wincing with pain, he said in a low voice: "I told you, no questions." When Starlett nodded with gritted teeth, he healed her wrist again.

No more word was spoken during the rest of the treatement. After the mysterious man had left, Starlett was alone with her thoughts again. She felt much better now and began to investigate her cell. After five minutes she was done. The cell was about 2m wide, 3m long and 2m high, had only one door, one little window with opaque glass and in one corner there was a dirty and torn blanket.

Starlett sat down on the blanket to keep a bit of her body warmth and tried to feel the magic of her surrounding. There were a lot of wards like she had felt in Hogwarts. But there also was something else, something dark. She was hungry and thirsty, but no one came and she heard no sound from the hallway. After some time, she fell asleep.

When Starlett woke up again, it was brighter inside her cell. She suspected that it was already the next morning. She was cold and her muscles ached. Even though she was used to sleeping in uncomfortable positions at ugly places, she felt worn and not well-rested. Besides, some of the pain had come back. Starlett got up and stretched and then she tried to get a look out of the window. Standing on the tips of her toes, her nose was right in front of the window but she couldn't look through it. When she touched the glass with her fingers she was violantly thrown back. She sat down on the blanket for some minutes but then she began restlessly pacing her cell. She was hungry and thirsty and some wounds still hurt and she still didn't know where she was or why she was here, all in all she was in an irritable and angry mood.

Finally, some hours later, the door opened again. A black-hooded figure with a white mask told her to come with him. Starlett would have liked to be defiant and refuse but she remembered the harsh treatment from yesterday and she desperately wanted to get out of her cell. She was led through what seemed like a thousand of dark and cold halls until they reached a giant painting of a snake eating a lion. Her guard muttered something under his breath and the painting swung open and revealed a hole of 2m diameter in the wall. He motioned her to go inside and the opening closed behind her. At a loss for what to do, she went straight on in the darkness until she saw a light after the next bending. When she emerged the tunnel, she stood in a gloomy room where all curtaines in front of the windows were closed and a great fire was the only source of light. In front of her, there was a table with food and silverware for one person. At the other end of the room a tall figure wearing a black robe stood with his back to her. Starlett froze when the figure turned around and she looked into a reptilian face with red eyes.

"Elisha Potter, known as Starlett till now. Welcome in Serpent Castle. I apologize for the treatment you reveived. It seems like some of my Deatheaters forgot their manners. Please sit down and eat." He motioned her to sit down in the armchair in front of the food and sat down in an other one himself. Starlett hesitated and watched him critically. But the food smelled very good and she was hungry, so she sat down and began to eat. She was aware of him watching her but she didn't care. When her hunger was quenched, she sat up straight and asked:

"Who are you? And why am I here?"

"I am Lord Voldemort, the greatest sorcerer of the century whom everybody fears. And you are here because I want you to work for me."

"I? Work for you?" Starlett asked unbelieving. "Why should I? Your followers, those Deatheaters, attack me, hurt me, kidnap me. I was in that damn cold and wet dungeon for a whole day without food or water and I don't know where Zaza is."

Voldemort smirked. Starlett was confused, she had expected him to become angry, not to be amused about her.

"I already apologized for the way you were treated, they didn't do this under my orders. And for Zaza, she is fine."

"But Dumbledore told me that you want me dead. You are the one who killed my parents! You are evil!" she screamed.

"My dear girl, understand one thing: There is no good or evil, there is only power and those who are too weak to seek it. I have power and I use it and I seek even more power. Dumbledore is a fool not to use his power for his own advantages. Your parents were fools, too. They didn't understand the concept of power. They died trying to protect others. How heroically!" He laughed evilly and continued. "The truth is, the true way of life is based on power, not on good and evil. Your parents death was their own fault. And I don't want you dead."

"But you tried to kill me." Starlett said quietly.

"Indeed, I did." He looked at her pensively and her scar began to hurt, but she didn't show it. "Your scar. I tried to kill both of you at once. You also backfired the curse. I suspected that you were still alive, but I didn't know for sure. And all the time you have been in London, right under my nose."

A shiver made his way down Starlett's back. The way he was talking now sounded threadingly.

"You could be very powerful." He continued in a soft voice. "You have the potential. But Dumbledore will never let you fully develop it. He is afraid of people with too much power. I can teach you things he would always withhold from you. And you want to learn, don't you?

"When you aggree on this, I will let you and Zaza free. You will attend Hogwarts and learn there. But I will teach you secretly and you will do some jobs for me."

When Starlett didn't answer, he got up and led her back to the tunnel that led out of his rooms. "A Deatheater will bring you back to your cell. There you have time to think about my offer. Remember, I seldom make offers as advantageous as this one."

At the end of the tunnel, a dark-hooded figure waited for her and brought her back to her cell. Starlett tried to remember the way they went, but failed. She suspected that they were going an other way back than they had come. Voldemort obviously didn't want her to know the ways around the castle. When they reached her cell, she was pushed inside and the door was locked again. Sitting on the cold floor, Starlett thought about his offer. It would at least get her and Zaza out of here. And maybe, he was right. She had experienced it in her street life: Those who had power used it over those who were weak. And was there really knowledge, Dumbledore would keep from her?


	15. Helplessness

This is only a short one, the reactions on the kidnapping

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**Star and Lightning**

**15th Chapter – Helplessness**

Almost all members of the Order of Phoenix were gathered around the great table in the kittchen of Grimmauld Place 12. Albus Dumbledore opened the meeting:

"You all know why we are here, no long speech necessary. What did you find out? Anything the muggles saw?"

Arthur Weasley was the first one to speak: "Muggles have seen a giant Deatheater raid. About 40 of them. Many of their reports are contradictory, but what almost all of them have in common is that the Deatheaters were attacking two women and many of them fell."

"Did they kill them?"

"Not sure. But they took them with them in the end, so probably not."

"But where did they take them? That's the question." Minerva McGonnagal asked.

"I checked some of the less protected places prisoners are usually taken. She wasn't there." Severus Snape said. "But of course I couldn't investigate inside the more protected places."

"I've checked whole Brittain. No magical sign of her. Though she wasn't detected before, either." Nymphradora Tonks reported.

"I also tried some very powerful tracking spells." Dumbledore added. "She has quite a powerful magical aura. I found no trace of her."

"But she can't have vanished from earth." Kingsley Shacklebolt furiously hit his fist on the table. "She must be somewhere!"

"Voldemort has a lot of secret places guarded by strong wards." Dumbledore replied calmly. "He probably keeps her in the best guarded place he has. It was quite unlikely that we would find her. I don't think that we will find her before he wants us to find her."

"Does this mean, we can't do anything at all?" One of the Weasley twins asked.

"I'm afraid so. What we can do though, is to stay alert and wait until she re-appears, dead or alive."

* * *

Meanwhile, Harry and his friends were gathered in Ginny's and Hermione's room playing a round of Exploding Snap. Harry stared out of the window and didn't pay much attention to the game while his friends chatted carelessly. But Hermione realized that something was wrong with Harry.

"Harry, what's wrong? You are so quiet." She asked with concern in her voice.

"Nothing's wrong." He snapped. "I've just lost one more relative."

"What do you mean? You know that you can tell us everything." Ron also was worried about his best friend. What the heck was wrong now? He seemed so happy yesterday.

"Do you remember Ginny saying that Starlett looked a lot like my mum? It isn't conincidence. She is in fact my lost twin sister Elisha."

"A twin sister? You never told us that you had a twin!" Ron exclaimed.

"Because I didn't know she ever existed till my last birthday. Dumbledore wrote me a letter saying about 'Hello Harry. Happy Birthday and sorry that Sirius is dead. By the way, you had a twin sister, I never told you about, but Voldemort killed her, too. Please enjoy the rest of your holidays.'"

"But why are you suddenly this quiet now? You already knew about her yesterday and yesterday you were completely different." Ginny asked.

"Didn't you realise how busy the Order is today?" he replied sarcastically. "Because now Voldemort has her. I had a vision last night. Voldemort's got my twin sister! What do you think that he will do with her?!" Harry began sobbing. "At first I find out that I had a sister, but think that she has been dead for 15 years. Then I get to know that she has been alive all the time but probably not for long anymore."

The others looked at each other surprised and a bit helpless and then Hermione moved over to him and hugged him.


	16. The Heiress

**Star and Lightning**

**16th Chapter – The Heiress**

Lord Voldemort stood in front of his desk in his private rooms. He was waiting for one of his servants to bring the girl. She would probably be a bit annoyed that he had let her wait so long, but he had had things to prepare. And waiting when he wanted her to wait was one of the first things she would have to learn anyhow. He was quite sure that he already had her on his side. And with a little manipulation today… she was his. The muggle woman had given very useful information. He hadn't decided what he would do with her yet. Maybe he would let he free, as a present to his new heiress, after her memory was altered of course.

Then there was a sound coming from the tunnel that led inside his rooms and little later, the girl appeared. Though she hid it quite well, he clearly felt her anger and annoyance. Forestalling her angry remark, he addressed her:

"Elisha. I'm sorry that you had to wait, but I had to prepare something. I don't want to know your answer, yet. At first I want to show you something."

At a wink of his hand a door to his left opened and two Deatheaters brought Garry, Starlett's former boss, in. He looked worn and frightened. Voldemort heard Elisha gasp. He spoke again:

"There you see why I have been busy. It wasn't easy to find a little gang's boss in whole Muggle London. I've heard that he hasn't always treated you very well."

When Elisha looked at him, he rejoiced silently. This had been the only weak point in his plan. With his Leglimency skills he entered her mind and looked for memories of Garry treating her bad. He let her relive all those moments when he had humilated, hurt or angered her.

"And now, I want to show you something" He directed his wand at Garry and said loudly and clearly: "Crucio." Garry cried out in pain and bent on the floor. Elisha looked at Voldemort shocked. Obviously there hadn't been enough anger in her yet. So he rummaged in her mind again and left her with an incredible wrath and hatred at Garry. When he tortured him again, he saw pleasure in her eyes.

"You can do this, too. Here take my wand." It was a risk, giving his wand away, but she was so deep in the rage he had caused, he felt safe. Hesitatingly, the girl took his wand. He hold her hand and helped her direct the wand at her former boss, who was looking at her horrified and pleadingly, and whispered in her ear: "And now, only say it, with enough anger."

Elisha uncertainely whispered the spell. A red beam emerged from the wand in her hand and when it hit Garry, he was once more writhing in pain. Voldemort encouraged her to do it again. And she did, this time with more confidence.

After some time of torturing the muggle, Voldemort touched her hand to stop her. Elisha looked up at him and he saw a grim satisfication in her eyes. Good.

"Now kill him. The spell is 'Aveda Kadevra'. You hate him. Do it!"

And she did. A bright green light illuminated the room for a short time and when it was dark again, Garry was dead.

Voldemort took his wand back, led the girl to his desk and motioned her to sit down opposite of him. He let the experience work his way to her brain and then asked her:

"Did you like it?"

His heart jumped of joy when she nodded. "These spells you just used are spells, Dumbledore will never teach you. He considers them evil. I consider them useful. Don't you, too?"

When she nodded again, still in sort of a trance, he continued: "You are very powerful witch with a lot of potential. The first spells you ever did with a wand worked at once and those aren't easy spells. But you can only be powerful when you use your ful potential. Dumbledore will try to disturb you development. I am getting old and I need an heir to help me fulfil my work. You, Elisha Potter, would be perfect to be my heiress."

"You want me to be your heiress?" she asked slowly.

"Yes, I want. I will train you in the Dark Arts and you will be the most powerful sorceress in the world. Isn't that a really advantageous offer?"

"And you will teach me things, Dumbledore won't?"

"Yes. Dumbledore fears the Dark Arts. The old fool would never teach them to you." Now, he was looking expectantly at her. Elisha was thinking and then she answered:

"I accept to be your heiress."

* * *

Harry suddenly clutched his scar and moaned quietly. Five heads turned and looked at him worried: his three friends, Molly Weasley and Remus Lupin.

"What's wrong, Harry?" Ron asked.

"It's Voldemort." Harry said through gritted teath. "He's very happy about something."

"But that can only mean…" Hermione didn't finish her sentence because everybody looked at her in shock.

"I will inform Dumbledore." Molly said and went to the kittchen to floo him.

About half the Order and the four students were sitting silently in the kittchen. There was nothing they could do. Starlett aka Elisha Potter was lost. When the front door of Grimmauld Place 12 opened and footsteps of several people were heard, the Weasley twins curiously poked inside the hall. When they saw Nymphradora Tonks with a shaking Elisha and an other horrified woman, Zaza, they both exclaimed at once: "I can't believe it!"

The people sitting in the kittchen rushed to the hallway and stood at once when they saw Elisha. Harry was the first one to talk: "You… You are alive!"

"I… uhm… managed to escape." Elisha stuttered.

Molly Weasley ushered them all back in the kittchen and served both Zaza and Elisha a mug of hot chocolade while Remus Lupin called Dumbledore who arrived only one minute later.

When he entered the kittchen and looked at Elisha, he felt at once that something was terribly wrong. But he explained this with the terror of being prisoner to Voldemort and the effort to get free. She hardly spoke at all and avoided his gaze. Zaza was the extreme opposite. She was very talkative and often broke out crying. She told how the Deatheaters had captured them in spite of Elisha's fight, that they had been kept in a dungeon for three days and that after Elisha had understood the guards' schedule they had managed to escape.

After Zaza had told the story that had been put in her memory, there was silence in the room. Then Hermione asked: "But what has Voldemort been happy about? Harry felt it!"

Elisha looked up quickly. Harry answered: "Maybe I misinterpreted the feeling. It was a strong emotion, but maybe it wasn't happiness. It wouldn't be the first time I misunderstood something I got from him."

Elisha sank back in her chair and concentrated on her chocolade again, hoping no one had noticed her weird reaction. But Hermione and Albus Dumbledore had.

In the night, Elisha couldn't sleep. She lay awake in her bed in the little room she shared with Zaza. What had she gotten herself into? She had killed a person. It was true, she hated Garry, but she never wanted to kill him. She was afraid of herself, of that part of her that had enjoyed torturing Garry, seeing him writhing with pain in front of her. She was Voldemort's heiress. In some years, people would be afraid to speak her name, too. She wasn't sure wether that was what she wanted. But there was no way back now. Voldemort wouldn't let her go and she couldn't turn to Dumbledore for help. She had killed a person. And what about Harry? She had liked him the few times she had met him. But he was her Lord's foe, therefore also her foe. But he was her twin brother! Anyhow, who was she? Last week, she had been Starlett, one of the many youths living on the street. Now she was Elisha Potter, torn between the Dark and the Light in a war that would decide on the wizarding world's future. But Lord Voldemort had said, that there was no good or evil, only power. And deciding for the power was the right decision, or not? She was completely confused and desperate. In past times, she had turned to Zaza with all her problems, but she couldn't do this now. Zaza wouldn't understand.


	17. Shopping in Diagon Alley

**Star and Lightning**

**17th Chapter – Shopping in Diagon Alley**

Elisha was lying on her bed reading 'An Introduction to The Dark Arts'. Lord Voldemort had given her this book because they couldn't contact again until she was at Hogwarts. She was too closely watched now. When she heard a knocking on the door, Elisha quickly shut the book and pushed it under her pillow. Harry poked his head inside and said:

"Hi Elisha. We'll get going to Diagon Alley in a few minutes, getting your wand and our usual school stuff."

"Okay." Elisha smiled. "I'll be ready in a minute."

When Harry was gone again, she hid the book under her bed's matress and put her long hair in a neat ponytail. She had put a bit of Make-up on to hide the rings under her eyes and she wore a black robe she had burrowed from Ginny; they were about the same size. When Elisha arrived in the hallway, the other four youths, Zaza, Tonks and Molly Weasley were already ready to leave. Zaza was talking animatedly to Tonks while Molly was dusting Ron's robe.

They flooed to the Leaky Cauldron from where they entered Diagon Alley. It was a cloudy and rainy day and Diagon Alley didn't look half as amazing at during Elisha's first visits.

"First stop: Gringotts." Molly said. "Harry, Elisha, you will have to share the Potter vault." Harry cringed inwardly. Inside the Potter vault there was more than enough money for both of them, especially now with the extra winn from Weasley's Wizard Wheezes Harry got. Molly made it sound like they would have to save. It was the Weasleys who had to be economical, in spite of the winn from the twin's shop.

Elisha was amazed by Gringotts. But she didn't like the ride to the vaults, it made her feel sick. She was even more amazed when she realized how much money she and Harry owned. They took quite a lot of money out because else than the usual school stuff, Elisha also needed a wand, robes, a cauldron, … all the things first-years usually bought.

Next was Madam Malkins. Elisha needed a complete set of robes, some of the others needed some new clothes. When Madam Malkins saw Elisha entering with Harry, she gasped and said: "The Potter twins! Oh, my god! I read about you in the Daily Prophet. The lost Potter is finally found. I've seen you doing wandless magic, dear. What a fantastic show! Do you…"

"For Merlin's sake!" Tonks disrupted her. "We only need some robes, not a praise on the Potters."

"Uhm, yes, of course." Madam Malkins was a bit embarassed and hurried to get them their robes.

Elisha looked a little shocked and Harry told her smiling: "I'm afraid, you will have to get used to that. You are famous."

When they finally had all the robes they needed, they headed for Olivanders. Elisha felt uncomfortable when everybody wanted to follow her in: "Well, I don't think that I will need you all for help."

So only Zaza and Harry accompanied her in. She felt a lot of powerful magic in the room, not wild, but ordered magic. She supposed that the order was on effect from the many wands that lay on the hundreds of shelves in the shop. Mr Olivander emerged from between some shelves and when he saw who had entered, his eyes widened a bit and he said hoarsely: "Elisha Potter. Nice to finally see you here. A wand for a wandless magician, let's see…" And he took one wand and gave it to Elisha. Nothing happened. He tried at least a dozen different wands but no one fitted. Elisha began getting desperate. What if she never found a wand? After rummaging in the back of the shop for almost a minute, Mr Olivander came back with an old and dusty, small box. When he blowed the dust off, she could see that the box was decorated with tiny patterns and figures of unicorns in a forrest. The wand inside was tender and almost transparent. It was made from something that looked almost like glass and it was filled with a glimmering, silvery substance.

In the moment Elisha's hand touched the wand, a siler glowing emitted from the tip of the wand surrounding her and for a short moment, she felt completely at peace with the world and herself. After the light had faded, Mr Olivander spoke quietly: "I've been wondering when this wand would be sold. It's old, very old. Legend says, Merlin himself made it. It is made of Ederald, wood from a tree with great magical powers that only grows in Unicorn Forrests, and Unicorn Blood. A powerful wand. Not many could handle it. It chose you, Miss Potter. Be careful with it, ancient wands often have a will of their own."

They didn't need to pay for the wand and when they showed it the others, everybody was astonished. They had never seen an almost transparent wand. Elisha was content with her new wand. It just felt right. She was tempted to try it out at once, but she knew that as she was a Hogwarts student now, she wasn't allowed to do magic out of school. When everybody had admired it, she put it back in its beautiful box and put it in one of her robe's pocket to carry it near her body.

While they were buying all the ingredients she would need for Potions, Hermione explained her the use of all of them. But even though Elisha concentrated hard to listen to her, her mind wandered off, back to her mysterious wand. From time to time, she put one hand in the pocket, just to feel that her treasure was still there.

She didn't stop thinking about her wand until they went to get their books. This time she could actually buy books! At first, she got all the books that were required for sixth-years and then she began rummaging through the store, looking for other interesting books. Hermione went with her and pointed some particurlarly interesting and useful books out to her. She didn't buy any books from the lower school years' lists because she could use Harry's old books to catch up on the lost five years. In the end, Elisha bought 16 books. Zaza laughed when she saw her packed with books. She had gotten herself only one little book, that was supposed to introduce muggleborns into the wizarding world.

Next, the boys and Ginny stopped them in front of the Quidditch Supply Shop. They had explained the game to Elisha and she was now curiously listening to their disussion about the newest developments and what would happen with the Gryffindor Quidditch Team. Harry's bann had been lifted and Ginny had aggreed to play Chaser in order to make the Seeker position free for Harry again. Elisha wondered wether she would be able to fly well. When she announced this loudly, they promised to teach her.

They were already on their way to the Leaky Cauldron when they passed the Menagerie. When Harry saw Elisha's curious gaze, he said: "Wait a moment. Elisha, would you like a pet as late birthday present? I got an owl for my 11th birthday when I was about to start Hogwarts."

Elisha smiled happily and nodded. Inside the shop, she went looking around. She didn't want an owl, because she could always use Harry's if she needed one. Watching the cats and rats and toads, she slowly made her way to the snakes. She already knew that she wanted one, but she didn't want to make it too obvious. When she stood in front of them, her eyes fell on a petite blue one with orange eyes. She softly hissed: "Hello, little one."

She didn't realize the shocked stares she got from the others customers around her, she was busy with the snake who turned her head to look at her and hissed back: "You are one who speaks our tongue."

"Aren't there many who do that?"

"No."

Elisha thought about the snake's answer for a moment, then asked: "Would you like to be my pet snake?"

"I would love to." There was something like a smile on the snake's face.

Elisha opened the cage and put her hand in. The little blue snake wound its way up her arm and settled around her neck. When the pet shop's owner saw this, he stormed over and said angrily: "You can't just take this snake out of her cage. It's deadly poissonous. And this one is extremely aggressive"

Like an answer, the blue snake snapped forward and missed his faces only little. Elisha caught her again and hissed: "Hey, calm down. First rule: No unprovoked snapping."

"But I was provoked." The snake hissed back and furiously flicked out its tongue.

"Okay, let me specify: No snapping unless your life is in danger."

The snake nodded and added: "Or when your life is in danger. I'm a guardian snake. It's my job to protect those I have chosen. I just never chose anyone before and I don't like being insulted."

Speaking normally, Elisha said: "I think I can control her. Harry, this is the pet I want." Harry paid and ushered them out of the shop by all the frozen people gasping at them.

When they were outside and back with the others, they also stared at Elisha and the snake.

"What's wrong?" she asked irritated.

"You are a Parselmouth." Harry stated. "You can talk to snakes. I can, too. It's just, that only very few people can speak Parseltongue. Actually, there are only three alive: Me, you and Lord Voldemort."

She nodded, now their reaction made sense. She quietly hissed to the snake: "These guys are my friends. No attacking them." After the snake nodded, she reassured the humans: "She won't attack you."

When the group was silently heading for the Leaky Cauldron, Elisha remembered something and she asked the snake: "By the way, do you have a name?"

"No, nobody named me. You could give me a name."

Elisha thought and then hissed: "What about Serena?"

The Snake nodded contently and moved under her robes to curl around her arm so that her head lay at Elisha's neck. Elisha smiled contently and the troubling thoughts of Lord Voldemort and her task were at the back of her mind.


	18. The Trainride to Hogwarts

When I re-read this chapter, I realised that there were a lot of spelling mistakes and some contradictions. I corrected them and hope I found most of the mistakes. As I don't have much time lately, I wrote this chapter in quite a hurry. So, here's the corrected version

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**Star and Lightning**

**18th Chapter – The Trainride to Hogwarts**

Harry woke up bathed in perspiration. He had, again, dreamed of Voldemort. Voldemort was very happy about something, but he didn't know about what. The red beams of a rising sun shone through the window inside his and Ron's room in Grimmauld Place 12. Today was September 1st, the day they would return to Hogwarts. But it was still early morning, nobody else was awake, yet. Harry turned on his back and stared at the ceiling, thinking about his sister.

She was so weird sometimes. One moment, she was laughing and joking with him and his friends or eagerly asking questions about Hogwarts, Quidditch and Magic and the next moment, she was quiet and irritated. But it was probably only because of her past. She had never known a family or real friends. Being a famous witch and having a twin brother must have been a shock for her after living on the street for 15 years. He didn't know much of what had happened in her life till now. She didn't speak about it very often and he didn't want to ask. He was content knowing that she existed and was with him, now.

Suddenly a thought struck him: Before he knew of her, he had thought that he would have to face Voldemort alone. But they defeated him together the first time, Voldemort had marked her, too. Maybe it was also both of them who had to fight against him the second time? Then it wouldn't be a lonely battle and the world's future wouldn't depend only on him. Yes, the prophecy must have meant both of them. Elisha was a powerful witch. Together, they would defeat Lord Voldemort!

Happy with these thoughts, Harry fell asleep again and was rewoken two hours later by Molly Weasley, who told him and Ron to dress and come down for breakfast.

Breakfast was eaten in a hurry. Harry and Hermione had almost packed the evening before and watched the Weasley children and Elisha run up and down the stairs to get their things done. Elisha wasn't very experienced with packing and therefore had a lot of problems, with which Molly helped her as much as possible.

When quarter past ten, everybody was packed, the students, Zaza, Molly, Tonks and Remus drove to King's Cross by Ministry cars. They arrived at the train station 10:49 and headed quickly for the barrier between platforms 9 and 10. Zaza was a bit reluctant to run straight at the barrier but did it nevertheless, because she was desperate to say goodbye to her little star before she left for a whole year.

At one minute before eleven, after all goodbyes were made, the students boarded the Hogwarts Express. Ginny joined her fellow fifth-year Gryffindors and the twins, Ron and Hermione went looking for an empty compartment.

Elisha was amazed by the ancient platform 9 ¾ and the scarlet engine, that would bring them to Hogwarts. And she was bewildered by people pointing at her and trying to talk to her. In the quiet of the compartment, they had found, she calmed down again and was excitingly looking out of the window. This wasn't only the first time, she went to Hogwarts, it also was the second time, she was travelling by train at all. She petted Serena who was rolled up in her lap and listened to Harry and his friends.

"What do you think, who will be our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher?" Hermione asked.

"Whoever it is, hopefully he or she is better than the last ones we had." Harry groaned while Ron nodded aggreeingly.

"I bet, it was difficult to find one. Dumbledore only accepted Umbridge because there was no one else." Hermione said. "Everybody seems to think, the post is cursed."

"Maybe, it is." Ron laughed. "Hermione, you are the one who always reads: tell me, is there a curse to curse a teaching position?"

Hermione huffed angrily and didn't respond. Harry was just about to say something in order to lighten up the atmosphere, when the compartment's door was opened and the blond and tall Draco Malfoy appeared. Grabbe and Goyle were standing next to him and he sneered:

"A weasel, a mudblood and two orphans. What a filthy gathering…"

At once Harry and Ron were standing and Harry said in a low voice: "Keep our parents out of this. If I'm not mistaken, your dear father should be in azkaban but he managed to weasel himself out like a slimy, little ferret."

Draco's pale face became a light shade of red and he opened his mouth to give an angry reply, when he suddenly stopped. A blue snake with orange eyes wound its way up his body and when it was around his neck, the snake looked him in the eyes and flicked out his tongue several times.

Elisha had gotten up, too and said in a threatening tone: "You'd better leave us alone, Malfoy. As you see, Serena is quite protective of me and doesn't like people who insult me. And maybe I should add: She is poisonous."

Draco looked at her wide-eyed. Harry found this situation quite funny: A Slytherin threatened by a Serpent. But he didn't want a dangerous situation to develop and therefore he told the snake to back off. Serena turned her head looking questioningly at Elisha. When she nodded, she rewound herself and returned to Elisha's seat. Malfoy quickly left their compartment and Ron laughed: "Did you see his face? It was incredible, I believe, I really saw fear on his face!"

After this incident, Harry and Ron played wizards' chess while Hermione and Elisha opened their books and read. But Elisha's thoughts were wandering off. This Malfoy boy. His father was a loyal follower of the Dark Lord. In order to play her role, she would have to be enemy with him. But she didn't think, she wanted to befriend him anyhow. From what Harry and the others had told her and from what she had experienced right now, she knew that he had a high opinion of himself and was somebody to think low of somebody who grew up on the street. She didn't have to act like she hated Malfoy, she really did. But people like him were the Deatheaters, who would one day be her followers. How could she hate her future servant? Damn it, why was this world that damned difficult?

Suddenly the door burst open again and a bunch of sixth-year Gryffindors peeked inside. Dean Thomas was the first one to speak: "Hi, everyone. Harry, we heard that your sister is here. Could we come in and meet her?"

Harry shot an encouraging glance towards Elisha and nodded. Elisha tensed a little but she knew that she had to go through this and the earlier the better. At first everybody introduced himself while she tried to keep in mind which name belonged to which face. And then, the questioning began:

"Can you really do Wandless Magic?" was the first question.

She nodded and explained: "It was the only sort of magic I did till now. I got my wand three weeks ago."

She was asked to show something and therefore levitated Hermione's book and set a chocolate frog on fire.

"Why didn't you two meet earlier? Where were you? Where did you learn to do magic?" Lavender Brown asked.

Elisha looked at Harry for reassurement and answered: "I lived on the street. I got lost after…, you know, after when Harry and I got these scars. And I learned magic an my own, by try and err."

For about half an hour, she was bombarded by questions about the scar, her life on the street, how they found each other, her hobbies, etc. When Serena slid out of Elisha's robe, everybody gawked in awe. Elisha caressed her, looked up and smiled: "And this is my pet, Serena. I must ask you not to provoke or disturb her, she is poisonous." And even more questions about her being a parselmouth…

Finally after about one hour, they left. Elisha sighed and let herself sink back in her seat. Hermione smiled at her and said: "Well done. You handled them well."

Elisha saw the three faces smiling at her and smiled, too. This hadn't been too difficult. She would manage this year. If it weren't for her being Voldemort's Heiress.

The rest of the ride was calm and Elisha passed her time staring out of the window and brooding. One question again and again: Had it been the right decision? She began to doubt Voldemort. These boys and girls had all been extremely nice, but they all were her Lord's enemies. In fact, he had tricked her into aggreeing. Aggreeing had been the only chance for her and Zaza to get out of Serpent Castle in one piece. And he had somehow entered and altered her mind when she had tortured and killed Garry. But there was no way back now. Voldemort was not a forgiving person. And she had read about it: Admitting what she had done would bring her straight to Azkaban, the wizard prison. Hermione had confirmed that the Dark Arts were not taught at Hogwarts but Elisha was fascinated by them. She wanted to learn them. Even if it meant being Voldemort's Heiress. He wanted to send her a message about their next meeting when she was at Hogwarts. She somehow dreaded that next encounter with him and the 'jobs' he would give her to do. But if she wanted to learn then she had to face him and she had to conceal her fears and doubts.

Meanwhile, the first stars were sparkling at the cloudless, dark blue sky. Elisha's thoughts were interrupted, when Hermione reminded them to put on their school robes. The boys left the compartment to leave the girls some privacy. Soon after they had changed, the marvellous castle Hogwarts came into sight. Elisha stared out of the window and gasped. The many towers were shining in a golden light and the castle was reflected in the Great Lake.

Elisha followed Harry and his friends out and Harry led her to Hagrid. The giant smiled at her and together with the first-years, she sailed over the Lake. Seeing the castle, she felt anticipation and a little fear. She was finally at Hogwarts, School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Starlett, the street kid, attended as Elisha Potter, twin sister of the famous Harry Potter, the best (and only) School of Witchcraft in Great Brittain. Her life had changed so much in the past weeks, it was incredible. And then she stepped out of the boat and slowly followed the first-years to the door of the Great Hall where the Sorting would take place.


	19. The Sorting

Finally the next chapter. I changed some spelling in the last chapter and Lucius Malfoy of course is not in Azkaban but hiding from the ministry. I changed those things. I have been writing that chapter in quite a hurry and didn't take the time to check it thoroughly. I'll be more careful with the next chapters.

Thanks again for all the reviews!

_Dovasery:_ I hope that some things have been explained in these two chapters. The main reasons for her accepting are that she hardly has any other chance to get out of Serpent Castle, she wants to learn everything including the Dark Arts and because of her background it is easy for her to understand Voldemort's concept of power. And it was never said, that she would stay on that side, was it? She's in for a hard time, but I won't reveal anything more

_daniel-radcliffs-girl:_ You'll see

_AquaCherry66:_ Thanks.

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**19th Chapter – The Sorting**

Draco Malfoy quickly checked his reflection in the compartment's window and left the train, Grabbe and Goyle in tow. He headed straight for one of the horseless carriages, hesitating when Harry Potter, holding his sister's hand, crossed right in front of him. Usually, he would have said some nasty comment, but they were already too far away to hear him, so he only growled quietly. Potter's twin stayed with the great oaf Hagrid, probably to cross the lake and be sorted with the first-years. Draco snorted.

When he sat inside a a carriage with Grabbe and Goyle, he told them: "Our new celebtrity has arrived. I bet, she will be sorted into loosy Gryffindor just like this terrible brother of hers."

Grabbe nodded while munching some sweets and Goyle said dreamingly: "She looks stunning."

"Idiot!" Draco shouted. "Remember who you are talking about! She's a halfblood and what's even worse, she's a Potter!"

Both Grabbe and Goyle shuddered and Goyle said quickly: "uhm, yeah, of course. You are right, Draco. She looks worse than Granger"

Draco humphed and stared out of the window. How could one be that stupid? They were talking about Elisha Potter, wandless magician and parselmouth, and all they were thinking about were her looks. He would have to be careful around this girl, the incident with the snake had taught him. His father, who was hiding from the Misnistry at the moment, had instructed him to watch her thoroughly. He had also told her, that the Dark Lord had caught her, but that she had managed to escape. Yet, Draco somehow doubted that she had escaped the Dark Lord on her own. From what his father had told him, he knew that it was supposed to be impossible to flee from Serpent Castle. Even more reason to be wary around her.

When the carriages reached Hogwarts, Draco and his companions got out and entered the castle with the other students. Once inside the Great Hall, they headed straight for the Slytherin Table. There was a lot of murmuring and even at the Slytherin table, the main topic was the long lost Potter. Draco was glad to share his thoughts with Theodore Nott, who had much more brain than Grabbe and Goyle. He shot some inconspicuous glances to the Gryffindor table and saw the Golden Trio talking animatedly with their housemates. Potter's sister was nowhere to be seen.

When McGonnagal entered with the first-years, all heads turned toward them. At the end of the line of first-years, a girl one head taller was walking. She had her gaze transfixed at McGonnagal's back in order to avoid the staring. Looking closely, Draco saw the snake's head at her neck. As it was somewhat hidden under her long hair, most people wouldn't see it.

Draco listened impatiently to the Sorting Hat's song and drummed his fingers on the table during the first-years' sorting, applauding when necessary. When it was Potter's turn, he sat up straightly and found himself watching with interest. She sat down on the stool, that was way too small for her, and the hat was put on her head. Then there was a stunned silence for almost one minute. Why did this take so long? Draco was wondering. Finally, the hat reached a decision.

* * *

When her name was called, Elisha warily went up the few stairs. She looked McGonnagal straight in the eye for an instance before sitting down on the little stool. She was nervous and a knot of fear had formed inside her stomache. She felt the head being placed on her head and almost jumped when she heard a little voice:

"Ah, a troubled mind, I see. Indeed, a troubled mind" She felt the hat's presence exploring her mind and tried to shut him off from her memories.

"Hey, a little more cooperation, please. How am I supposed to sort you, if you don't show me your mind? But I believe that I've seen enough. That's a difficult decision…. You have qualities for almost all houses: a quick mind, unique talents, hunger for knowledge, slyness,…"

Elisha interrupted him, because a terrible thought had just occurred to her: "You mustn't sort me into Slytherin!"

"Not Slytherin? 5 years ago, your brother told me the same. But he had different reasons for not wanting to be sorted into Slytherin… hmm"

There was silence for some time. While waiting for the hat's decision, Elisha realized that every student in the Great Hall was watching her intensely. And though she couldn't see the teachers, she was sure they were doing the same. Suddenly the hat softly spoke up again: "You are a really difficult choice, but I think that this will be the best for you."

And then he shouted out loud, for everbody to hear: "RAVENCLAW!"

Professor McGonnagal took the hat from her head and Elisha went to the Ravenclaw House Table feeling relieved and anxious at the same time. Relieved, that she was not sorted into Slytherin, and anxious because she didn't have her brother to cling to now.

The whole hall was cheering and two girls winked her over and made place for her to sit. They introduced themselves: "Hi, my name's is Sophie, this is Padma. We're both sixth-years. Welcome in Ravenclaw, the house of the bookworms and know-it-alls"

Elisha smiled at both of them and asked Padma: "You have been in our compartment on the train, with your twin sister, haven't you?"

Padma laughed and answered: "Yes. My sister is in Gryffindor though. It's not unusual for twins to be sorted into different houses."

After Professor Dumbledore had hold his start-of-term speech and presented Kingsley Shacklebolt as their new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher and the food had appeared, a lot of other Ravenclaws introduced themselves to Elisha. They were proud to have a celebrity in their house. Elisha silently wondered wether they would still be this nice when she would officially be Voldemort's Heiress. On the other hand, this overwhelming friendliness seemed unreal to her. How could everybody welcome her that warmly? She was more used to people like Malfoy whom she saw sitting at the Slytherin table. When Serena smelled some delicious meat and unwound herself from Elisha's neck quickly sliding on the table, there were gasps all over the table. Even Padma, who had already seen her, gasped. Elisha quickly explained:

"That's my pet snake, Serena. She doesn't hurt anybody, as long as nobody angers her." Then she hissed to the snake: "Wait a moment, Serena"

She grabbed her and set her back next to her plate while levitating the meat, Serena had smelled, over. Everybody gawked at her show of Parseltongue and wandless magic. Elisha smiled and continued eating.

When the feast was almost over, the tiny Professor Flitwick came towards her. Sophie whispered in her ear: "That's Professor Flitwick, our Head of House. He probably wants to welcome you."

And he did welcome her. He also told her that she could turn to him with all her problems. Elisha snorted inwardely, certainely not with these problems.

After Dumbledore had declared the feast over, Elisha waved at Harry and his friends and went to the Ravenclaw Common Room with the other students. On the way, Padma and Sophie explained about the moving staircases and how one could find one's way through Hogwarts. In the end, they advised her to always stay with one of the other students, so she wouldn't get lost.

A drawing showing a great black raven under a rainbow was the entrance to their Common Room. After Padma, who was a prefect, had said the password, Dihydrogeneoxide, they entered. Like when she had seen the Great Hall for the first time, Elisha was astonished. There were a lot of blue and silver armchairs and sofas, a huge fireplace, large windows and glittering decorations all over the walls. At the right and left side of the room, there was a corridor each, that led to the dormitories. The sixth-years girls' dormitory was the fifth one on the left. Inside there were five giant four-poster beds with dark blue curtains and silver bed linens. The view form the windows showed the greenhouses and the forbidden forrest. The bathroom, the five girls were sharing, was roomy and bright.

Elisha liked her dormitory and the Common Room. This would be her home for the next year. The other girls asked her to join a start-of-term-party in the Common Room but she prefered to be alone now. When the others were gone, she let Serena free to explore and unpacked her belongings. Almost everything was new, there were only few clothes and books she had brought from her life as Starlett.

Elisha was tired. This day had been quite exciting and exhausting. She didn't hear any sounds from the party, only the wind blowing around the castle and occasionally she heard her snake gliding in or out of something or rustling with curtains. Slowly, she undressed herself and lay down in her bed, the one in the left corner. A lot of thoughts were swirling around her mind, but she quickly fell asleep.

When the other girls came back, they found her sound asleep with Serena curled up next to her. The snake raised its head and looked at them while flicking its tongue, so they quickly closed the curtaines again and quietly went to bed themselves.


	20. The First Day of School

So, here are two new chapters. As Ankaa mentioned, I don't have mucht ime any more, But I will continue this story, at least one chapter per week.

Thanks, _Dovasery_, _daniel-radcliffs-girl_ and _Ankaa_ for your reviews

Now enjoy and continue reviewing, please

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**20th Chapter– First Day of School**

Filius Flitwick searched his way through the students' legs. From time to time, he looked up to greet some of them, mainly Ravenclaws or others who did great in Charms, the subject he was teaching. When, after some time, he had finally reached the Head Table, he conjured a pile of books on top of his chair and climbed onto it. Saying "good morning" to all the other teachers, who were already there, he began eating. He was glad that school had begun again, because he loved teaching and seeing young witches and wizards improve their abilities. While eating, he watched the Ravenclaw House Table. The first-years, huddled together at the front of the large table, seemed excited and nervous. They talked animatedly with each other and looked around at the elder students and the teachers anxiously. Filius smiled when a tall, raven-haired boy showed the others some spell, he had already learned. It would be fun teaching these yound students. And then there was of course Elisha Potter. She was sitting with two other sixth-year girls and talking to them. Filius was glad that his house accepted her this warmly. From what Dumbledore had told him of her past, it would be difficult for her to fit in this life. He looked forward to teaching her and discussing wandless magic with her. Her understanding of how magic worked had to be enormous.

His train of thought was interrupted by Minerva McGonnagal handing him a stack of paper saying: "These are the timetables for your house's students. I've sorted them in years, only Miss Potter's timetable is at the end because she has lessons with several years. And this" she gave him another piece of paper "is your timetable."

Filius nodded and thanked Minerva, then jumped down from his seat to distribute them to the students. After he had finished giving out the timetables and calmed down and reassured some first-years, he headed for his Charms classroom in order to prepare for his first class, which was sixth-years and the Potter twins.

Soon the first students arrived, who happened to be Harry, Ron and Hermione. Filius was especially happy to see Hermione, as she was excellent in Charms, and told her so. She blushed, but was saved from having to reply by Elisha and Sophie, who were just entering and sat down behind the Gryffinder Trio. Padma was not with them because her first lesson was Divination, which was taught by Professor Trelawney again. Filius watched smiling as the twins told each other of their day. They reminded him of Lily and James. Slowly, the room filled with students. When the last one, a Hufflepuff student, had arrived, Filius stood on his pile of books and addressed the class:

"Welcome to an other year at Hogwarts. I know that your last year has been hard and I hope that you all used your holidays to relax." He paused and looked around at smiling, nodding and tanned faces. "We will begin with some repitition of the charms we did last year. I want you to work in pairs and practice these charms." A list of spells appeared on the blackboard. "And Miss Potter, I will work with you personaly. We will see what you can do. Stay seated, I'm coming."

Ron paired up with Harry and Hermione with Sophie. They were all curiuosly watching Elisha and Professor Flitwick. He noticed that they were not really working, but he knew that they were good and therefore let them.

"So, Miss Potter. Have you already read about the Charms we did?"

She nodded and answered: "Yes, I've read Harry's old school books."

"Very well." Filius said and sat down on the table in front of her. "I assume that you have a great understanding of how magic works, for that is necessary to do wandless magic. But working with a wand is somewhat different. The magic is directed by the wand, not only by your will. I think, it would be best if you just tried some easy spells."

When Elisha took out her glassy wand, he gasped and asked: "That is your wand? I've read that the last person to use such a wand was Unica Ginett, a wich said to be as powerful as the Hogwarts' Founders. Ederald makes a powerful wand. Can I touch it?"

She nodded and handed her wand over to him. The whole class was watching as he carefully examined it by sliding his fingers over the smooth material and holding it against the light. He gave it back to Elisha and told her: "Probably a good wand for you. Ancient and powerful wands don't guide your magic as much as usual ones. That can cause problems for an unexperienced wizard but it also has its uses. Let's try the charm I always do first with the first-years: the Levitating Charm. Did you read about it?"

"Yes I did. It is used to make things fly and the incarnation is …" Elisha closed her eyes, concentrating. "Wingardium Leviosa."

"Very well." Filius exclaimed happily. "Though the pronounciation wasn't quite correct. Repeat: Wingardium Leviosa."

"Wingardium Leviosa." She said.

"Yes, that's it. And now the wand movement. Do it like this." and he showed with his own wand what she should do. "Swish and flick. Are you ready to try it with this feather?"

Elisha nodded and bit her lip, concentrating hard to do it with her wand, not without. She muttered the incarnation and the feather flew up. But she realised that she had done it wandlessly. She let it down and tried again and again she didn't use her wand.

"It's pointless." She finally said. "I should try something I can't do without a wand."

Filius nodded and asked: "Do you have a particular charm in mind?"

"What about the Silencing Charm?" she questioned. "I don't think that I've ever done something like it."

Filius aggreed that this might be a good idea and conjured a crowing raven. "Ok, now try."

Elisha pointed her wand at the raven and muttered "Silencio". Soft blue glowing emmitted from the tip of her wand and when it reached the raven, it was silent for some seconds, then cooed again.

"Great done! That was a beginning." Filius exclaimed. "Try it again. You can silence him for a longer time."

This time the raven stayed silent for almost a minute. At the end of class, Elisha had brought her silencing charm to perfection and got a feeling for her wand.

* * *

When it was time for lunch, Elisha was exhausted. The Transfiguration lesson hadn't gone half as well as the Charms lesson. Instead of changing her match into a needle, she had set her table on fire. Professor McGonnagal had been nice and understanding, but nevertheless Elisha was disturbed. Together with Padma and Sophie, she sat at the Gryffindor Table next to Harry and listened to Sophie telling Padma how great she had done in Charms. Harry and Hermione discussed the current politics, something Elisha wasn't interested in at all.

Suddenly, Serena appeared next to her ear and whispered: "A messenger of the Dark Lord is waiting for you in the Entrance Hall."

Elisha paled and quickly left the Great Hall, saying that she needed to go to the toilet. She didn't see Hermione looking after her with a frown.

Once inside the Entrance Hall, Serena guided her behind a statue of a Centaur. There, Nagini was waiting for her. Elisha's heart began beating faster and refused to be calmed down. Anxiously, Elisha squatted down and listened to the serpent.

"My master sent me." He hissed. "He wants to start training you as fast as possible. You will give me your timetable so that he can schedule your meetings with him. But you also need a room to train on your own. I will show you the way to the Chamber of Secrets this night. Be here at midnight. It's not my problem how you do that without being spotted."

That said, Nagini quickly slid across the Hall and out of the door.

"What a rude show-off." Serena hissed quietly. "He could have at least told us what this Chamber of Secrets is. And he talked to me the way one talks to a little child."

Elisha went back to the Great Hall with shaking legs. The good news was, that he didn't want to see her today. The bad news was, that she had to begin breaking rules during her second night at Hogwarts. How was she supposed to manage that? She had heard, that the teachers and the evil caretaker patrolled the corridors at night. What if they detected her? And if she didn't go at all? No, no possibility. Voldemort wouldn't be happy at all if she refused his orders. So she sighed and sat down next to Harry again. She tried to engage in the conversation in order not to arise suspicion.

Fortunately, her next lesson was History of Magic. Hence she had a lot of time to think about how to get out of the Common Room and walk through the castle without being seen. And slowly a plan was forming in her mind, but there were a lot of things she had to do first…


	21. The Chamber of Secrets

**Star and Lightning**

** 21st Chapter – The Chamber of Secrets**

Elisha lay in her comfortable four-poster bed, desperately trying to stay awake. She heard the other girls in her dormitory breathing calmly and felt Serena's curled-up body under her left arm. She was tired, exhausted from her practice and worried. She wasn't afraid that she might be expelled. But what if she was caught and Dumbledore found out that she was the Dark Heiress?

Finally, she heard the distant sound of the Hogsmeat Church's bell striking midnight. Serena raised her head and uncurled while Elisha silently got up. Making as little sound as possible, she opened the dormitory's door and squeezed through, Serena sliding at her heel. She conjured a little shining ball inside her palm to enlighten the dark corridor. When she reached the door leading to the common room, she carefully opened it and peeked inside, making sure it was empty. Taking some deep breaths, she stood in front of the window clutching her wand and concentrated. Now she was doing what she had been practicing and reading about all afternoon and evening, praying it would work. The air around her began whirling and her wand glowed in a cold blue. Slowly, her figure faded and eventually she became invisible. When it was done, she stood there panting. She had read about this spell in one of Harry's advanced Defence Against the Dark Arts books and had found her new wand a great help. This was much easier for her than transfiguring a match. Serena hissed:

"It might be a great experience having accomplished such a complicated spell, but we really should get down to the Entrance Hall. I don't want to keep Nagini waiting any longer than necessary."

"Yeah, you're right." Elisha hissed back. "So I'm really invisible?"

Serena nodded and slid towards the common room's exit. Elisha followed her and quickly they made their way down to the Entrance Hall. They didn't meet a patrolling teacher.

Behind the statue, Nagini was curled up and hissed angrily: "What took you so long?"

Without waiting for an answer, he uncurled and slid through the hall very fast. Elish had to run to keep up with him and was carrying Serena who couldn't have kept up with this speed. She desperately tried to put the way they were going in mind but she wasn't used to the corridors of Hogwarts, yet. Finally, Nagina slowed down in front of a girl's bathroom and hissed:

"In here, you'll find the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets. There's a ghost in it, but you only need to threaten her a little and she won't tell anybody that you have been here. There used to be a Basilisk inside the Chamber, but your brother slaughtered it. You're supposed to use the chamber as exercising room. There are wards around the chamber so that Dumbledore won't realise any magic being done in there."

That said, Nagini disappeared in a slit of the wall and Elisha stood panting in front of the girl's toilet on the second floor. What the heck was she supposed to do now? Slowly, she entered the toilet. Inside, there was nothing unusual. Serena set off to explore and find the mentioned entrance while Elisha looked around carefully. Suddenly, Elisha heard a loud scream and a slivery girl rushed out of a toilet, Serena following. This had to be this toilet's ghost.

When the ghost saw Elisha, whose invisility charm had worn off till now, she tilted her head and asked: "What are you doing here, in the middle of the night?"

Elisha remembered what Nagini had said and replied in a threatening tone: "That's none of your business. You won't tell anybody that I have been here or you will regret it."

Moaning Myrtle looked at her wide-eyed, then retreated into a toilet, sobbing. Meanwhile, Serena had continued exploring and had found the carved serpent on the faucet.

"Look, I believe I've found the entrance." She hissed.

Elisha examined the serpent curiously and hissed: "Open."

And it did. The washbasins moved, revealing a large hole. Elisha looked inside anxiously and saw that there was a tunnel beginning. She hesitated to jump inside. But she knew that she had to, so she grabbed Serena and jumped.

During the ride down, Elisha was wotrying about how to get out again. She certainely wouldn't be able to climb this pipe up. As the tube ended, Elisha and Serena fell on thousands of rat skeletons. Elisha pulled a face and dusted her robe. Carefully, she went foreward till she reached the copper-plate with the serpents. Seven of them were wound across it and the head of an eighth one was barely visible. She bent foreward to have a closer look at them and muttered in Parseltongue: "How do I open you?"

In response, the eighth snake made its way around the plate and whenever it touched one of the others, it snapped its head back. When the serpent had completed its round, the plate sprang open, revealing a circular opening. When Elisha hesitated, Serena slid foreward. After walking around some more corners, they entered the Chamber of Secrets. Elisha gasped and even Serena seemed astonished as she stopped moving and looked around. Slowly, they passed by the statues of serpent's heads till they stood in front of the huge statue of Salazar Slytherin's head.

There was something about this statue's face and eyes, that made Elisha shiver. She didn't really like the idea of coming down here regularly. It was cold, wet and unpleasant down here. True, she had lived in a lot of places like this one, but nevertheless she didn't like it. When she was wondering wether there were any more secrets about this place, the head suddenly spoke up.

"Are you an heir of Slytherin?" it hissed.

"uhm, yeah." Elisha stammered. "I'm supposed to train here."

"Yes, training is the only thing one can still do down here. The Secret of this Chamber, the Basilisk, is gone."

Elisha didn't dare ask what exactly a basilisk was. She had a feeling, that she was supposed to know that. When she thougth that the silence would crush her, the head suddenly hissed:

"There's a well-equiped training room to the left and a library on the right."

Elisha thanked him and went to the left first. And there, behind the statue, was a plain door, guarded by the statue of a serpent, that let her enter. The Training Room was not very big, but big enough for two persons to use it. There was a collection of swords and daggers at one wall and the whole room was stuffed with cushions, very dusty cushions. She'd have to clean this room before she could use it. Serena, who had gone off exploring, suddenly gave a serpentine shreak and rushed out of a cupboard. Elisha curiously went over and looked in. She squealed too, but caught herself. Skulls of all kind, teeth that were labeled with the names of Dark Creatures and bottles filled with mysterious potions were inside.

Elisha decided to clean this mess later and check the library now. The other door was guarded by a serpent's statue, too. The Library was enormous, it looked almost as big as Flourish and Blotts. The floor was covered with dust, but there was none on the bookshelves. Must be some sort of dust-repelling spell, Elisha mused. The books were old, most of them from the Founders' time or even older. She got absorbed in them, quickly. While Serena explored the room and then curled up next to her, Elisha flicked through books about Parseltongue, the Dark Arts, Potions, but also about Light Magic like Transfiguration and Healing.

Suddenly, she realised with a jerk, that she had no idea what time it was. It could already be next morning. Elisha quickly grabbed some books and headed out of the chamber. When she stood in front of Slytherin's statue again, she remembered, that she didn't know the way out. So, she timidly asked the head:

"Excuse me, Sir." It opened its eyes. "How do I get out of here again?"

The head laughed a cold and cruel laugh and replied: "Usually, I would let you find the way on your own, but as I like your guardian snake.." Serena flicked her tongue out, confused. "There is an old broom hidden underneath the sixth serpent's head on the left. It is an ancient model, but I think it still does its job."

Elisha thanked him with a nodd and got the broom. Standing at the beginnig of the pipe that led to the exit, Serena curled around her right arm, she hesitated. Harry and his friends hadn't showed her how to fly, yet. But it couldn't be too difficult, could it? She seized the broom firmly and pushed off the ground. Shakily, she zoomed upwards until she finally reached the girl's bathroom. She hid the broom behind the washbasins and told the entrance to close. Dim daylight was already lightening up the toilet, so she hurried to the Ravenclaw Common Room.

Suddenly, she heard footsteps behind the next corner. Elisha cursed under her breath, she had forgotten to do the invisibility charm. Panic was beginning to rise inside her, when the steps came nearer. She forced her breathing to slow down and concentrated on the spell. Just at the moment, Professor Snape came round the corner, it was complete. She stood pressed against the wall, waiting for the professor to pass by. But he had sensed something and listened carefully. Elisha barely breathed and concentrated on the charm. If she becam visible now, she'd have a hard time explaining what she was doing in the corridors of Hogwart at this time in the morning carrying books, that were hundred of years old, protected by a highly complex invisibility spell. Serena saved her, by throwing down a statue fifty meters away. Once Snape headed towards the fallen statue, Elisha let the charm down and ran as quietly as possible back to the Ravenclaw Rooms. She got to her bed without any further incidents. After hiding the books under her matress, she fell into bed and fell asleep immediately.

One hour later, Sophie and Padma had no idea why it took Elisha that long to get up and get herself clothed.


	22. Potions Lesson

So, here's the next chapter, enjoy!

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**22nd Chapter – Potions Lesson**

Harry, Ron and Hermione were sitting in the Great Hall, eating breakfast. Harry looked past Ron's head at the Ravenclaw table and said: "Elisha and her two friends are still missing. I wonder why."

"They'll come." Ron answered. "Calm down, mate. Nothing's happened to your precious sister."

Harry nodded absent-mindly and concetrated on his pumpkin juice again.

"Do you know where she was yesterday in the afternoon?" Hermione asked.

"Practicing." Harry replied. "She borrowed some books from me. Didn't you see her in the library?"

When Hermione shook her head, Harry shrugged his shoulders and continued eating. Suddenly, Elisha, looking tired and exhausted, stood behind Ron and startled him saying: "Morning, you three. Here are your books, Harry. "

Harry seized them and asked with concern in his voice: "How are you? You look tired."

Elisha froze, then answered with mock cherryness: "I'm fine, completely fine. Just a bit too little sleep this night." She smiled a not-so-honest smile and asked: "What's your first lesson today? Mine is Potions."

"Hermione and I have Potions, too." Harry told her. "There you'll meet Professor Snape. I would have loved to kick Potions because of him, but I can't."

"Is he really that bad?"

"Oh, yeah." Sophie said from behind her. "I'm really glad, that I never need to see that git again in class."

"Well, I've dealt with a lot of jerks." Elisha replied self-confidently. "I will manage to deal with this one."

"But you really should be careful." Harry advised her frowning. "Snape can be really nasty and as he loathes me and you are my twin, you already have a bad starting position."

"C'mon, Elisha, Sophie." Padma whined. "I'm hungry and we don't have much time left."

"Ok, see you later, Harry."

Harry winked after her and smiled at her enthusiasm. Still, he was a buit worried about Potions and Snape. He was well prepared and hoped that Elisha was, too. Hermione, as if reading his mind, told him: "I've talked to her about Potions. She's read a lot about them and I think, that she will manage it."

Harry looked at her smiling thankfully. Then he stood up saying: "I still need to gather my things and I don't want to be late for Potions."

Hermione jumped up and said: "I'll come with you!"

Ron nodded and said: "I'll finish my toast first. You know, I have Herbology first. No need to hurry. Good luck with Snape."

"Thanks, mate. We'll need it." Harry replied and left the Hall together with Hermione.

* * *

Draco Malfoy stood in the hallway in front of the Potions classroom talking quietly to Blaise Zabini. Grabbe and Goyle weren't with him, they were too thick for NEWT-Potions. He heard soft foot-steps and upon seeing who had arrived, he groaned inwardly: Potter and the mudblood. But luckily, Weasley wasn't with them. Draco sneered and asked: "So, the weasel didn't manage Potions. Means, poor Ronnekins won't be able to become an Auror, doesn't it?"

"Shut up, Malfoy." Hermione told him placing a calming hand on Harry's shoulder.

Draco smirked. He had hit a nerve. Potter and Granger moved towards a corner of the corridor and talked quietly, too quietly for Draco to understand. Slowly, the hallway filled with students. Draco scowled, when he saw that there were even two Hufflepuffs. But good thing was, that Potter and Granger were the only Gryffindors. When it was only two minutes till lesson's beginn, they were glancing around worriedly. Were they waiting for someone? Draco shrugged and entered the classroom, Professor Snape had just opened. He sat down in the first row next to Zabini. Snape told a Ravenclaw student to close the door, when suddenly one more student raced inside. It was Potter's twin. Draco watched smirking, as she tried to excuse herself.

Panting, Elisha stuttered: "I… I didn't know the way. It was longer than I …"

"Sit." Professor Snape interrupted her. "Five points from Ravenclaw for being late. You are new, that's why I'm being forgiving."

Elisha quickly slid onto a seat next to an other Ravenclaw student. Snape watched her sit down, then addressed the class: "We will brew the Dreamless Sleep Potion today. Miss Pomfrey needs a refreshement of her supply and I expect you all to brew perfect Potions she can use." Draco smirked confidently. He had done this one during the holidays. Therefore he wouldn't have any problems with it. Snape continued: "Potter, what are the ingredients for the Potion?"

There was silence for an instance until Snape barked: "Mister Potter!"

Draco looked behind at Harry who answered in a clear voice: "Dragon's Tooth, Essence of Gribbin, Urmelia Den, Toad's Warts and smashed Ilbar Root."

Snape looked sour and Draco was disappointed. He had expected an interesting start-of-term show. Snape looked around for an other victim and found one: "Miss Potter. Tell me how to brew the potion!"

"I'm sorry." She said quietly. "I don't know, Sir"

"Didn't you prepare at all for this class? Ten points from Ravenclaw." He spun around, his robe billowing, and walked behind his desk.

"That's not fair." Draco was astonished. She dared to oppose Professor Snape. Snape seemed to be thinking the same and replied angrily: "Ten more points from Ravenclaw. It's a student's duty to prepare thoroughly for all his lessons."

"But it's impossible to catch up on five years in five weeks!" Elisha had stood up, glaring daggers at her professor.

Even to Draco, Snape's voice seemed dangerously low now: "Miss Potter. Others might think you a special person, who should get everything granted for free. I don't. For me, you are nothing more but one more student, a lazy student as it seems."

"I don't think, I'm very special, but I want to be treated fairly!" Draco was amazed by her stubborness. "I've been living on the street most of my live. I've had no chance to read about Potions!"

Professor Snape seemed to think, that it was enough for now and told her to sit down and read out the instructions from the book. After hesitating a bit, Elisha complained and read the instructions with her voice shaking from anger. Then Snape told the students how to pair up and Draco sat up straigth, when he heard who he was supposed to work with. His godfather couldn't mean this.

He asked: "Sir, did you really say, that I should work with Miss Potter?"

"Yes, Mister Malfoy, I did. Please prevent her from destroying this classroom. I doubt her ability to brew Potions." He replied silkily.

Elisha's mouth was a thin line, but she stayed silent, grabbed her things and went to sit next to Draco who looked at her scornfully. They collected their ingredients in silence and began working them. When Draco saw, that Elisha was smashing the roots wrong, he told her so.

"Don't torture your roots with that knife. You must do it with more care."

She looked up at him furiously and didn't answer. But she was more careful with her roots now. When she had all the ingredients prepared, she seemd to be at a loss of what to do now.

Draco sighed and told her impatiently: "And now do what the instructions say. Put the roots in the boiling water."

Elisha took them and put them awkwardly into her cauldron. Once they touched the water, steam was rising and took her by surprise. Draco sneered and said: "If you had read the instructions properly, you would have know, that you are supposed to put them in slowly."

She glared at him, then went on with her potion, reading every instruction several times before doing it. She was completely concentrated, biting her lip in the process. From then on, Draco didn't need to help her very often. Secretely, he admired how well she was working, considering that this was the first potion she ever brewed.

Professor Snape was walking through the rows, commenting on the potions. When he stood behind Draco, he complimented on his well-done potion and awarded Slytherin five points. Then he stayed behind Elisha and looked over her shoulder. Draco saw, that she was getting nervous, having Snape breath down her neck. When she couldn't bear it anymore, she turned around defiantly and looked directly into his eyes. Draco was surprised by what she had done and also by Professor Snape's reaction. He hold her gaze for a moment, then turned away and walked to the next student. Elisha took one deep breath and concentrated on her work again.

At the end of the lesson, her Potion looked quite well. It was a bit too muddy, but else it looked fine. When Harry walked past their desk carrying his bottled Potion, Draco stuck out his leg and Harry fell. The bottle shattered and the potion was spilled all over.

"Potter!" Professor Snape bellowed while Draco smirked. "Ten points from Gryffindor for mere stupidy and zero points for your work today."

"But Professor!" Elisha spoke up. "Draco tripped him up"

"Is that true, Mister Malfoy?" he was asked. "Did you trip Mister Potter up?"

"Of course I didn't." he replied with mock seriouseness.

"Five points from Ravenclaw for accusing an innocent student." Snape told Elisha. "Give me your potion."

Elisha gave him her vial and glared at him. He took the vial and examined it while there was complete silence in the classroom. "Hmm. A potion of little quality. You didn't put enough effort in it."

"But I did!" Elisha replied angrily. "It's only a little different from how it is supposed to be!"

"I am the teacher, I am the one to judge your potions." He turned around, thinking the topic was closed.

"But Parkinson's potion…" she began and was interrupted.

"Don't speak to me like this." He whirled around and looked at her angrily. "You are no better than that terrible brother of yours!"

Now, Elisha was really furious. Draco saw pale colors whirling around her head and expected an outburst. It came, when Snape continued his speech.

"What did I do to deserve two Potters in my class? Couldn't you have stayed where ever you were?"

Suddenly, there was a wave of hot air in the dungeon that knocked all bottles and vials from the shelves and let everyone gasping for breath. The little blue snake was in front of Professor Snape, hissing at him angrily. Elisha's eyes were glowing with fury and a powerful wind was blowing in the classroom. Snape removed his gaze from the snake and looked at Elisha in shock. She hissed something to the snake, which at once came to her and curled around her arm. Then she whirled around and ran out of the room. When she was gone, the wind calmed down and then there was utter silence apart from the sizzling and bubbling of the spilled potions on the floor.


	23. In the Library and In the Staff Room

So, here's the next chapter.

Though this will be the last update for the next two weeks. I'm going to a sports event, on a class trip and to a star trek convention…you see, my timetable's quite full.

So next chapter will be up in about three weeks.

Review answers:

_Taela:_ Thanks. ;-)

_Gboyary:_ too bad, you don't like my story anymore. But Elisha being the Heiress of Voldemort is an important part of my stoy. You know, I didn't want it to be like: 'harry finds his twin, together they defeat Voldie and live happily ever after.' Elisha is a complicated character and I intend her to stay that way.

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**Star and Lightning**

**23rd Chapter – In the Library and In the Staff Room**

Hermione was sitting in the library, doing her History of Magic assignment. As it was Sunday afternoon, the library was empty except for Hermione and Elisha, who seemed to be getting increasingly frustrated. Books, parchement and quills were scattered all over the table they shared.

Suddenly, Elisha startled Hermione by slamming her book shut and complaining: "When am I supposed to do all this work?"

"What do you have to do?" Hermione asked laying her quill aside.

"Potions, Transfiguration and Herbology. All due to tomorrow." Desparation was clearly audible in her voice. "I've already worked for hours and I'm not even half done."

"I'll help you." Hermione told her sympatheticly. "The homework, I am currently doing, can wait."

"Oh really?" Elisha's face lit up. "Thanks, Hermione!"

Hermione placed herself next to Elisha and began looking at her work. Her first words of advice were: "You must learn to organize your work. For example, don't use loose papers, use folders instead. I can borrow you some, if you need. And don't take notes in such a confused way. Use diagrams, tables and so on. And most importantly, try not to leave your assignments for the last possible day. I know, it's hard for you because you've never gone to school before."

"But I never thought that these homeworks would take that long. And I've just never felt like doing them before."

"Then learn to force yourself to do some work. You'll have to." Elisha groaned and Hermione decided that they had had enough of this talk and should begin the actual work. Together, they researched the Potion, Elisha should write an essay about, and when they had found the needed book, Elisha copied the information down. At first, Hermione looked over her shoulder and gaver her several tips on how to do things more efficiently. Then she leaned back and watched.

Elisha was holding the quill with unease and streaks of her long hair were continuously falling over her shoulder and disturbing her. She seemed to be fighting hard to concentrate on what she was doing. Hermione felt pity with her. Elisha was neither used to concentrating for a long time nor to organising assignments. She had never learned how to. But Hermione had noticed, that she was a smart and clever girl and she was sure, that she would learn it. The Sorting Hat had been right to put her into Ravenclaw. But there was something about her… She reacted so weird sometimes. Harry and Ron failed to notice and when Hermioen had tried to tell them, they had only laughed. But she had watched her closely and found more hints that there was more about Elisha than she let on. This girl was a mystery and Hermione was known to solve all mysteries she stumbled over.

* * *

"Now, about our other new student." Albus Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling merrily.

He and his staff were gathered in Hogwarts' Staff Room, discussing the first week of school. So far, they had talked about how the first-years had settled into school. Minerva McGonnagal, the Deputy Headmistress, sat next to Albus, taking notes and looking fully awake and concentrated. Next to her, Filius Flitwick sat on a table, dangling his legs. Severus Snape was leaning back in his armchair with the typical growl on his face. Right next to him, Rosmerta Sprout was smiling broadly and a bit sleepily. Kingsley Shaklebolt, Auror and current Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher, sat in a corner of the room, calmly watching. The other staff members were gathered around them, in different states of liveliness and concentration.

"How is Miss Potter doing in class?"

Filius spoke up first, his voice trembling with excitement: "In charms, she is doing great. She's a natural. It's unbelieveable how fast she learns how to do the spells. It's only a matter of learning the incarnations and trying several times. She learns up to ten spells a lesson. In a few weeks, she will have caught up on the others. And you should have seen her wandlessly conjuring a bunch of lilies! Once, she has learned how to do a spell with her wand, she hardly has any trouble doing it without. It's really incredible. I haven't seen such a talented student for a long time. In fact, not since Lily Evans left."

"How is she dealing with her fellow House Mates?" Albus asked.

"Jolly good, I think. She is friends with Miss Partil and Miss Ginnett. And of course, she is with her brother and his friends very often."

"Well, what about the other classes?" Now, he looked at Minerva.

She sighed and responded: "Unfortunatley, she is having trouble with Transfiguration. Even simple transformation take her a lot of concentration and power.She doesn't seem to be able to channel her magic to transform things. And when she looses patience and gets upset… well, then everything can happen. I have given her some books on the theory of Transfiguration. I hope, that she will be able to do it better once she's understood the theory."

Albus nodded gravely and shifted his gaze on Kingsley. Kingsley shifted his position in his seat and looked thoughtfully.

"She definitely knows how to defend herself." He finally said. "You felt her power yourself, Albus. She reacts instinctively most of the time and then she does it without her wand, with her natural magic. Using her wand, she is even more powerful. I've tried some simple spells with her and she did them quite well. Though, she tends to mix the names and the incarnations up. But she only needs to be diligent now and learn the incarnations by heart, the potential is there." He paused for a second and locked his eyes with Albus. "But, there is something worrying me: Her powers are developing rapidly.She wants knowledge about magic, all kind of magic, light or dark alike. Yesterday, she asked me about the Unforegiveables, very precise questions. How did she get that accurate knowledge on them in a few weeks?"

Albus looked around pensively. He didn't want Harry's twin sister to be torn on the Dark Side. Under no circumstances should she be able to learn the Dark Arts. He would watch her closely for the next weeks.

Severus disrupted the uncomfortable silence: "Can't you do something about that snake of hers? It's frightening the students."

"Or is it frightening you?" Minerva asked with a patch of irony in her voice. Everyone knew what had happened in Elisha's very first Potions lesson.

Severus glared at her in response and Albus tried to ease the tensed situation: "Maybe, I should ask her not to bring the snake to Potions? Would that be a possible solution?"

"I suppose so." Severus answered through gritted teeth.

"Now that this matter is cleared," Albus adressed the staff again." Is there anything else?"

"What do you know about You-know-who's plans, now that Potter's twin is discovered?"

"Well, not very much, I'm afraid." He answered sincerely. "Lord Voldemort…" people flinched at the mentioning of his name. "is staying calm at the moment. I'm not sure what his next steps will be. But we're figuring it out." With 'we' he meant the Order of Phoenix. As there were some teachers who were no members of it, he couldn't speak that openly. Although he really didn't know much more.

When he saw that there were no more topics to discuss, he dismissed his staff. Only Minerva stayed behind and accompanied him to his office where they had their weekly match of chess. Being absorbed in their chess board, they didn't notice Fawkes nervously turning his head and didn't see the great black crow flying pass the office's window towards the open window of the Ravenclaw sixth-years girls' dormitory.


	24. Lessons Learned

Sorry, it took me so long, real life keeps steeling time.

Starreader1: Thanks very much.

I must aggre, I've gotten damn few reviews! Don't you all know how to do it?

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**Star and Lightning**

**24th Chapter – Lessons Learned**

All during her friday Herbology lesson, Elisha was inattentive. This night, she would meet Lord Voldemort again. Last Sunday, a black crow had delivered an envelope with a short note and a portkey. Elisha was nervously fingering the locket in her pocket while Professor Sprout explained how to repot the Dedokes. She was partnered with Neville Longbottom and trusted him to know what they were supposed to do.

When the lesson was finally over, she still had to endure a whole afternoon with Harry and his friends without making them suspicious. Fortunately, the boys decided to do homework and didn't watch her very closely, so they didn't notice how absent-mindedly she read her Potions book.

After dinner, Elisha excused herself, saying that she was tired. She went to her dormitory and stuffed the blanket with clothes in a way that it looked like someone was sleeping in there. Additionally, she closed the curtains around her bed, hoping no one would notice, that she was gone. She put on black clothes, grabbed Serena and concentrated on becoming invisible. Once Serena confirmad that she really was invisible, Elisha hurried out of the dorms and out of Hogwarts. There was one close shave, when she almost ran into the headmaster who, as Harry had told her, could see invisible people.

At the edge of the Forbidden Forrest, she took the locket, that Voldemort had transformed into a portkey, out and anxiously waited to be transported to Serpent Castle. She suddenly felt a pull at her navel and the world around her faded. She reappeared in a dark and tiny chamber. There was no sound expect her own breath. All of a sudden, a ray of magic flashed next to her head. She turned around and imediately returned fire. She cast spells and blocked curses until her opponent stopped and she heard the sly voice of Lord Voldemort:

"Very well. I see, you have improved. Follow me."

A door was opened and Elisha saw the Dark Lord's shilouette against the bright light. She blinked and followed him quickly. He waited for her to catch up and walked at a quick pace then. Again, she had no idea where they were going. When they reached a narrow stairway leading upstairs, he motioned for her to go first. Elisha hesitated for a second, she felt uncomfortable with him being that near. But a dangerous glint in his eyes was enough to make her hurry up the stairs. At the top of the stairs there was a huge room looking very much like the training chamber in the Chamber of Secrets.

"This is a place no one of the Death Eaters ever comes to. We will be undisturbed here. Sit down there and tell me what you've read in the books I gave you."

Volodemort was a strict and impatient teacher. Elisha was nervous and often mixed things up. Learning with him wasn't as fun as it was at Hogwarts but his knowledge was amazing. Elisha made sure to keep everything, he told her, in mind, because she was afraid of his reactions should she forget anything and because it interested her.

After two hours of testing her knowledge, the practicing session began. Elisha was supposed to do a little bit of dark magic on a key. She gathered her magic in her right hand and was beginning to lead it through the wand, when a snort from Voldemort distracted her. Startled, she looked up at him and the gathered magic went free, melting the key and setting the table, it lay on, on fire. He jumped up yelling furiously and quickly estinguished the fire.

"Silly girl! Did I tell you to set my castle on fire?" he barked, his red eyes glowing.

"I…I.." she stuttered timidly.

"Try it again." He told her grimly and sat down again, handing her a second key.

Nervously, Elisha started again. But his gaze was ennerving her, she couldn't concentrate. After some unsuccessful attempts to gather her power, she turned to him and asked, a bit more rude than she had intended: "Would you please stop staring at me? I can't concentrate!"

Voldemort scowled, but got up wordlessly and stood facing the window. Elisha breathed deeply and closed her eyes. When she had gathered enough magic in her wand, she whispered the incarnation and concentrated on what she wanted to do. When she opened her eyes again, she saw that surrounding the key was a dark mist that was slowly fading. As she carefully tried to touch the key, she was violently thrown backwards.

Lord Voldemort turned around quickly and growled angrily: "What have you done, now?"

When a small smile appeared on his Heiress's lips, he followed her gaze and saw the key. His eyes enlarged for a second and he walked towards it slowly. When he was convinced that Elisha had cast the spell corectly, he turned around to see her on her feet again.

"Very well. I want you to read about Dark Repulsion Curses till our next meeting. You are dismissed, now." He clapped his hands for a house-elve. "Tinky will bring you down to the Entrance Hall. Here," he threw her a handkerchief. "is your portkey."

Elisha turned to follow Tinky, breathing a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, Voldemort heard that and called her back.

"Condolesco." He said softly and Elisha fell down writhing with pain. She felt like all her bones were breaking. The curse lasted only for about a second and when it ended, he told her: "That will teach you to be obedient. Disobey any of my orders or show any sign of joy to get away from me and you will feel the curse again. Now go."

With a neutral face, she hurried out of the chamber and down the many stairs. Now, she was truly afraid of her Lord. She didn't know the curse, he had used on her, but she suspected that the Cruciatus-Curse felt much worse. And while she had experienced it for not more than a second, she had kept Garry under the Cruciatus for minutes at a time.

Back on the ground of Hogwarts, Elisha ran to the Entrance doors, not busying to make herself invisible and ran straight for the next bathroom where she vomitted into the toilet. When she felt, that there was nothing left in her stomach, she leaned against the wall and tried to calm her breathing. She was exhausted, sickened by the understanding of what she had done to Garry and afraid of how their next meeting would be.

After some time, she got up and shakily returned to her dormitory, fortunately meeting no one on her way.


	25. Christmas

Here's the next chapter!

I'm having holidays at the moment, so I suppose I'll update soon again.

There's been not much of Harry for quite some time, so this chapter is only about Harry and Elisha.

Have fun reading and review!

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**Star and Lightning**

**25th Chapter - Christmas**

As time went by, Elisha became more and more powerful. She learned fast and excelled both at school (except for Transfigurations) and during her weekly lessons with Lord Voldemort. She learned to handle her wand perfectly and direct her magic to do exactly what she wanted it to do. She learned to endure pain. She learned to disguise her true feelings. She learned to be cheerful and enthusastic even if she felt utterly desperate.

* * *

Soon it was christmas. Elisha had to stay at school with Harry and a few other students for Dumbledore was afraid to let her go. On the one hand, she felt really cheerful because Voldemort had cancelled their meetings for this time, on the other hand, staying meant two weeks alone with her brother. She liked Harry but she had no idea how to act around him. Harry had insisted that she move into the Gryffindor Tower during the holidays.

That's why, on the morning of Dec 25, she was woken by Harry storming in her room calling: "Wake up, Sis! It's christmas!"

She turned around lazily and looked at him through half-closed eyes. "Any reason to be so excited?" she asked teasingly.

"Of course!" he poked her in the side. "We have presents!" Harry shook his head and laughed. "Come on, now. You've got presents, too."

That got his sister out of bed and, both still in their pyjamas, they hurried down the stairs to the Common Room. There was a pile of presents under the small fir tree that was decorated with little bells and balls shining brightly in the Gryffindor and Ravenclaw colors. Harry immediately dashed for the presents and looked through them excitedly. Elisha followed him with a little less enthusiasm but with a broad smile on her face. Soon, they sat together under the fir tree opening their presents. Ron and Hermoine had gotten both of them presents, Mrs Weasley had knitted sweaters for both of them and of course they had made presents for each other. Harry was speechless as he saw what Elisha had made for him: a little, shimmering dragon figurine that was bewitched to walk around and blow fire.

"Wow. That's amazing!" he said when he had found his voice again.

"Like it?" his twin asked smiling.

He nodded open-mouthed and queried: "Did you bewitch this?"

Elisha simply nodded and opened her last package. It was packed in muggle papers and a note from Zaza was stuck on it. Harry looked curiously over her shoulder and frowned as he saw the discman and the stack of CDs.

"This must have cost her a fortune." Elisha whispered. "She is barely able to pay the rent and all the bills with the money she makes at Micheal's."

"Sorry to spoil your fun," he said slowly. "but muggle devices don't work at Hogwarts."

She jerked around and looked at him wide-eyed. "You mean, this discman doesn't work here? Zaza spent the money on nothing?"

It hurt him to see his sister so worked up and he suggested: "Maybe Dumbledore can help. He knows the wards around Hogwarts best." She nodded slowly and he added: "We can ask him right away if you like."

"Okay."

They both returned to their rooms and got dressed. Then they grabbed the discman and headed for Dumbledore's office.

In the afternoon, they were outside having a snow fight on the grounds of Hogwarts. Dumbledore had promised to take care of their problem and Elisha and Harry were both in high spirits. It was christmas and they had nothing to worry about. They were laughing and throwing snow balls at each other. Elisha had the better aim but Harry had more power. Suddenly, Elisha jerked forwards and caught Harry unaware. They were rolling in the snow, each trying to get the upper hand. Finally, they aggreed on a truce and lay in the snow panting. Harry had an arm under Elisha's head and watched her face that was red from all the laughing and the cold. He felt so close to her now, almost like they had known each other for all their life and not only for five months. When he looked closely at the star-shaped scar on her forehead, he remembered his ideas about the prophecy. Yes, they would fight Voldemort together, he and his beloved sister.He pulled her close to him and she snuggled her head onto his shoulder. Harry stroked a strand of hair from her face and smiled when she looked up. In this moment, he decided to tell her everything, even what he had kept from Ron and Hermione.

"Elisha," he began softly. "You know that Voldemort tried to kill us, but we somehow reflected the curse, together. There is something I need to tell you, something I haven't even told Ron and Hermione." He turned his head to look at the grey sky above them and therefore he missed the pained expression on her face as he continued.

"There has been a prophecy made before our birth, about me, or about us more likely. It said that when the seventh month dies, a child will be born to those who defied Voldemort thrice. We were born on the last day of June and our parents faced Voldemort and lived three times. The One will have the power to vanquish the Dark Lord. The One will be marked and have powers, the Dark Lord knows not. We have both been marked by Lord Voldemort with our scars. So there's not only One, but there are Two. That's what quite a lot of people know, but now comes the part, only Dumbledore and I and now you know. Either must die at the hand of the Other for Neither can live while the Other survives. That means we are the only one able to kill Voldemort and we have to. If we don't, he will kill us some time."

Harry paused and collected his thoughts, then he took a deep breath and continued: "When I heard the prophecy at the end of the last year, I felt seperated from everyone else, I felt different. Upon me alone lay the responsibility to save the world. But it's not only me, it's us. We will defeat that bloody Dark Lord together."

He turned his head again to look at her and saw a lonely tear on her cheek. He gently stroked it away and said soflty: "Hey, I know this is quite a shock for you, but there's no need to cry. We will go through this together."

Elisha sat up suddenly and turned her head away. Harry heard her sobbing quietly and sat up too, embracing her from behind. She cried soflty and said: "I will fail you Harry."

"No, you won't." he said firmly. "I trust you."

Elisha freed herself from his grip, stood up and ran away. Harry was confused and only when she was about ten meters away, did he finally stand up and call: "Elisha! Elisha, wait!"

He began chasing her, but gave up after a few meters. He didn't understand what had just happened. He had felt like he understood her, but now? He hadn't anticipated such a reaction.

He hung his head and slowly made his way back to the castle. The wind was freezing now and his robes were wet from melted snow and perspiration. Maybe he had only been a complete fool. Had he forgotten his own reaction upon hearing the prophecy? Of course, Elisha would be desperate. He just hoped, that she would return to him, that they would face Voldemort together.

* * *

When Harry arrived in the Great Hall, where the remaining students and teachers were gathering at a great table, alone, Dumbledore immediately sensed something was wrong. Harry slumped into a chair and muttered "Merry Christmas".

"Where's Elisha?" Professor McGonnagal asked.

"Don't know." Harry answered.

"Did you two have a quarrel?" Albus Dumbledore asked gently.

Harry looked up and said: "Not really, no."

In that moment, Elisha entered, looking fairly normal. She chose the empty seat next to Harry and said smiling carefully: "Harry, I… I'm sorry… I… shouldn't have left like that."

Harry smiled visibly relieved and answered: "That's quite ok, Sis. Let's just… forget about it, ok?"

Albus watched the exchange with interest. What had happened between these two? During the remainder of the meal, they didn't talk much and cast hidden glances at each other. Hopefully, they would deal with their problem soon. He didn't want to meddle with their matters.

When everyone was finished eating and everyone was in high spirits, he took the discman out of his pocket and handed it to Elisha, whose face lit up when she saw it.

"I've managed to make it work. Have fun with it."

She smiled broadly and answered: "Thanks very much. You don't know what this means to me!" Then she turned to her twin who was smiling, too. "Wanna come with me and test it? I'm sure you'll like some of the CDs, too."

"Sure." He said and they hurried out of the Great Hall, together.

Albus smiled at them and chuckled when Minerva whispered: "They remind me of their parents sometimes."


	26. Telling the Truth and Restrictions

So, here are two new chapters. The next chapters finally contain some action!

_resaispoe:_ thanks, glad that you like the way I'm writing

_Starreader1:_ thanks very much!

In case, you've already read this chapter, I made a change. I inserted a scene I had forgotten and moved another one in a later chapter. 11-5-04

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**Star and Lightning**

**26th Chapter – Telling the Truth and Restrictions**

"Harry, Hermione, come on. Let's go to bed. It's well past midnight." Ron grouched. He was sitting in the Gryfindor Common Room together with Harry and Hermione. Hermione was curled up in her favorite armchair reading and raised her head now. Harry sat in an other armchair, a heavy, old-loking book on his lap. Ron was sleepy and tired of reading about how to take care of Drake Cubs.

"You can go." Harry said without looking up. "I need to finish this chapter at least."

Ron was taken aback. Harry had never been a studiosous student. He seemed to be studying more this year, especially Defence Against The Dark Arts. Ron had noticed and wondered about this change since the beginning of the year and decided to ask: "Why do you suddenly read so much?"

"'Cause I need to prepare." Was the short, grumpy reply.

"Prepare for what?" Hermione queeried.

Harry finally looked up and seemed to be pondering. Ron squirmed under his intense gaze and jumped when Harry slammed the book shut and kneed in front of the fireplace.

"To fight Voldemort." he said quietly. Ron flinched at the name and frowned confusedly.

"You don't have to fight him." Hermione said in her teacher-like way. "That you defeated him when you were one year old, eleven, twelve… well, that doesn't mean that you have to defeat him again. I mean, I appreciate that you're studying but don't focus on Voldemort too much, Harry, especially not now."

"You don't understand. You can't understand." Harry muttered and continued staring at the flames. Ron and Hermione looked at each other helplessly. Ron was worried for even Hermione shrugged and didn't know what else to say.

Finally, he broke the silence and said: "Then explain it to us. You know, that you can trust us, Harry."

An eternity seemed to pass until Harry turned around with a look of determination on his face. "Do you remember the prophecy, Voldemort wanted?"

And he told them of the prophecy and what that meant for him…

* * *

Albus Dumbledore sat in his office reading a heavy book when someone knocked his door. He looked up from his book and felt the presence of Kingsley Shaklebolt and Elisha Potter. Smiling, he put his book away and told them to enter. Kingsley came in shoving Elisha in front of him. Albus frowned and motioned them to sit down.

Fawkes whistled softly and flew over to Elisha who greeted him fondly. But when she stretched out a hand and wanted to stroke him, he took his head back and looked into her eyes. She let her hand sink and a shadow crossed her face. Fawkes shook his head and shuffled his feathers, then he took off and returned to his perch.

Albus became worried. Why had Fawkes rejected Elisha? Kingsley, who hadn't noticed Fawkes' weird reaction, started speaking: "Professor Dumbledore, Miss Potter has an unusual request: She wishes unlimited access to the restricted section of the library."

Albus turned to her, surprised, and asked: "Unlimited access?" She nodded. "That's an unsusual request. You can certainely get single books, but unlimited access to all of them… Why?"

"I want to read them" was her simple answer.

"Isn't the library big enough? I doubt that you already read all the books that are unrestricted." He chuckled slightly.

Her eyes narrowed defiantly. "I haven't read them all, but when I came here, you told me that I can learn. That I can finally learn whatever I want to. So, why are there books I'm forbidden to read?"

"Elisha, please understand," he leaned forward on his desk, the merry twinkling leaving his blue eyes. "that knowledge can be dangerous. Certain magic can be dangerous. Those books, that you wish to see, contain dangerous knowledge. They are only given out when the student is doing a project and is supervised by a teacher. I can't give you unlimited access to the restricted section."

"But there are books about topics I'm interested in." she replied.

"Surely, you can find something about those topics …"

"No," she interrupted him. "What I find in the unrestricted books is much to vague to be of any use. But if I can't get unlimited access, can I at least get these books?"

When Albus scanned the list of books she had handed him, he paled. Then he looked up gravely. He looked into her dark eyes and tried to reach her mind but she blocked him. How, he had no idea. Now, he really was concerned. Something was terribly wrong here.

"Why do you want to know so much about the Dark Arts? Why do you want to have these books?" he asked solemnly.

"I'm interested in them" she answered impodently. "Is there a problem with that?"

"Indeed, there is." He sighed and explained slowly in a serious tone: "The Dark Arts can be very obsessing. They suck your warmth and life energy. I've seen people practicing the Dark Arts and becoming empty shells ruled only by the greed for power. The Dark can take people over." His voice dropped to a whisper."I've known Lord Voldemort before he became Lord Voldemort, when he still was Tom Riddle, a student at this school. Then he travelled the world occupying himself with the darkest of the Dark Arts and when he came back hardly anyone recongnised him. The Dark Arts have taken their toll on him You know what he is now. Remember, the Dark Arts bring out the worst in people." He regained some loudness. "What do you want to do with them anyhow? One can do no good with Dark Magic."

She was quiet for a moment, then she blurted: "But how shall we defend ourselves against the Dark Arts if we don't even know what they are? You can't teach us Defence Against the Dark Arts without teaching the basics of Dark Arts."

"The Dark Arts are dangerous, Elisha. They can change people's mind. Young people are especially susceptible to them. ThatÄs why they are not taught at Hogwarts. I don't want you to meddle with them. Is that clear?" When she avoided his gaze and didn't answer, he repeated his question: "Is that clear, Miss Potter?"

"Yes." She spat. "Can I go now, Professor?"

He nodded and dismissed her, then he looked gravely at Kingsley. Was it too late? What had they done wrong?


	27. The Second War Begins

**Star and Lightning**

**27th Chapter – The Second War Begins**

Lucius Malfoy sat in his study biting his lower lip and furrowing his brows. He would never let anybody see him like that, but right now there was nobody who could see him. He was alone and he was worried. The Dark Lord had a trustworthy contact in Hogwarts who was neither the child of a Deatheater nor a Deatheater himself and no one seemed to know the mysterious person's identy. This person was a real threat to himself and his son, Draco. Until now, most of the information about what was happening at Hogwarts had come from him. Lucius had 'convinced' his fellow Deatheaters whose children attended Hogwarts to leave the business of informing their Lord to him. Not only was there a second source of information, but his Lord seemed to behold more trust in that guy than in his son. This person spoiled all his carefully planned plots.

Sighing, Lucius grabbed a sheet of parchment and began to write a letter addressed to his son, warning him of this new development and informing him of the soon-to-be war. He would have to be very careful not to anger the Dark Lord's new servant for he seemed to be quite fond of this person. Anger boiled up inside him. The Dark Lord entrusted this damn, mysterious person with an important mission taking place at Hogwarts, passing his son over. And worst of all, he didn't even know what exactly this mission was about.

Fuming, he stalked to the Malfoys' Owlery and grabbed the owl that was so unfortunate to be nearest to the entrance. He fastened the letter quickly and threw the owl outside. He watched with grim satisfactions as the owl fell for about two meters until it gained lift and flew off to Hogwarts.

* * *

Lord Voldemort sat on his throne smiling contendly. It was only a question of time now until he would finally get Harry Potter. The Serpent's Stone was with his Heiress and she would use it to fight a battle of nerves. Dumbledore wouldn't know what hit him. Once she had done her job, the attacks all over Great Brittain would start.

* * *

One day later, the Heiress stood at the edge of the Dark Forest facing Hogwarts, a black gem in the palm of her left hand and her snake wound up around her right arm. This would be her first action against the Light, her fist action in this war. It would make everybody in the castle wary, nervous and easily frightened. And this was only the first step planned to throw the wizarding world into chaos. Doubts kept nagging at the back of her mind but she pushed them aside violently. Hadn't Dumbledore denied her access to the restricted section of the library only few days ago? If she relied on him, she would never learn how to do real magic.

Slowly, she took some steps forward, groping her way with her feet, for it was a moonless night and the wordl around her was pitch black except for the shining castle Hogwarts. When she felt herself crossing the barrierr, she kneed down and dug a small hole in which she placed the Serpent's Stone. Then she took her wand out and began hissing ancient spells in parseltongue. Her transparent wand began glowing dimly green and a pale green mist emerged from the tip of her wand, crawled along her arm and surrounded her. Suddenly, she jerked up and cried the last incarnation aloud. The shining, green fog spread out and surrounded the wards, covered Hogwarts, then it crushed them and disappeared.

She stood in the dark, panting. Her own breath was the only audible sound. A weak smile spread across her face. A huge and damn difficult work of magic had been acomplished.

* * *

Harry Potter woke up screaming. He had had an odd nightmare about someone conjuring green mist around Hogwarts. His scar was throbbing.

Dark-hooded figures with white masks in front of their faces appeared in several villages, were muggle-born wizards lived.

Albus Dumbledore woke with a start. Hogwarts' wards were gone.

The Deatheaters' raids began.

Harry and Elisha broke down crying from pain. They both heard Voldemort's insane laughter.

The Dark Mark was conjured above all places where raids had taken place.

The Second War had begun.


	28. Announcements

So, here's the next chapter. Enjoy and don't forget to review!

;-)

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**28th Chapter – Announcements**

When Ron awoke the next morning, he felt great. Today, it would be his turn to duel in Defence Against the Dark Arts and the training with Harry last year had prepared him well. And Professor McGonnagal would surely return their tests today, the test in which he had done extremely good. Today would become a real success.

He turned on his back and smiled at the ceiling of his four-poster bed. Then he sat up with a sudden movement and jerked the curtains open. Harry had already gotten up and his other room-mates were still sleeping. Yawning and stretching, Ron got up and quickly got himself dressed, his tooth brushed and his short, red hair combed.

Happily, he jumped down the stairs leading from his dormitory to the Common Room where he found Harry and Hermione already awake and deep in conversation. Their heads jerked up when he called effusively: "Morning, guys! Today is a great day!"

Hermione and Harry looked at each other, then Hermione said warily: "I wouldn't be too sure of that. Harry's scar hurt like hell this night. Voldemort is up to something."

But Ron let nothing spoil his high spirits. "Who cares what You-know-who's doing? We're in Hogwarts, we're safe. Today I'm gonna have my duel with this Slytherin whore and I will kick her arse. Don't waste your thoughts on what might be. Let's get down to the Great Hall, I'm starving!"

As Ron was already hurrying through the passageway leading to the Fat Lady, he missed the worried glances his two friends exchanged.

In the Great Hall, he carelessly shoved food on his plate and ate greedily. He talked animatedly to Semeas and Dean, who had arrived shortly after him, for Harry and Hermione seemed to be in their worry-about-everything mood.

When almost every student was present in the Great Hall, the Headmaster stood up and addressed them gravely: "Two things happened last night, two things you need to be informed of." Ron began feeling uneasy. Was this something that could spoil his mood? When the headmaster continued, he realized it was.

"First, there have been Death Eater raids all over Great Britain. When the Aurors arrived, it was all over and done with. This is the first major action undertaken by Voldemort since his last downfall 15 years ago. I fear, the Second War has begun.

"The second thing that happened last night, especially concerns Hogwarts. For reasons still unknown, the wards around Hogwarts failed. Hogwarts was said to be the safest place on earth, now it is not any more. Now, don't panic. The wards were not the only protection guarding Hogwarts, this is still a place safer than most. A soon-to-be attack is unlikely. If it had been planned, it would have taken place this night. For all teachers are needed to investigate the remainders of the wards and to ensure your safety, all lessons are cancelled for an indefinite period.. All students please return to their Common Rooms and don't leave them until further notice. House elves will provide you with food. Prefects, keep everybody calm and make sure everybody is in their Common Room."

Ron sat dumbstruck, trying to comprehend what Albus Dumbledore had just said. Students around him were rashing about whispering hastily with each other. There goes my great day, he thought. Why? Why was all this happening? Was his family all right? Would the teachers be able to keep them safe without the wards?

He whirled around, when someone tapped his shoulders, finding his sister looking at him with fearful, wide eyes. He slowly got up and, while putting a protective arm around her shoulders, followed the stream of students.

* * *

Minerva McGonnagal and Severus Snape were walking the grounds of Hogwarts, desperately trying to find a hint of what had happened to the wards. They had been made of so old and ancient magic that not even Albus could replace them.

"And you have no idea what caused the ward's failure?" Minerva asked.

"No." Severus shook his head. "He doesn't trust me anymore. But I doubt that any of the Death Eaters knows what he has done to the wards. If it has been him at all…"

"Who else?" Minerva stopped pacing and faced the castle. "The wards don't just turn off for no reason. They've lasted so long… they can't just vanish."

"Despite what Albus said during breakfeast: Hogwarts is easy prey now. Death Eaters could easily apparate inside and we are much too few teachers to defend the students." Severus said quietly. "I also fear an attack from the inside. Some of my Slytherin students… they want to step in their fathers' foot prints."

"Do you think a students could have destroyed the wards?" She looked at him worriedly.

Severus shook his head slightly. "It's too difficult."

"Don't underestimate the students." Minerva said softly and looked back at the castle. "We don't know how it was done, but that doesn't necessarily mean it's very difficult." She shuffled her robes and continued walking. "Come, we should check the border of the Forbidden Forrest."

Suddenly, the sky flickered and the air was filled with magic for a second. When it was gone, Severus took his wand and tried to apparate… and failed. They looked at each other and, without having exchanged a word, headed back for Hogwarts.

In the Great Hall, they met Albus Dumbledore and half of the other professors. They were all gathered around and chattered seriously.

"Did you do it?" Minerva asked excitedly.

When Albus turned to look at her, she knew the answer. He hadn't. But then how had the wards come back to work? When the whole staff was gathered, it turned out that no one had done anything to the wards and no one had any idea how they had been turned off in the first place. Albus sighed and tried to keep the desperate expression from his face, but succeeded badly. Maybe it was only a temporary failure and the wards would stay in place now. But somehow, he doubted it. The picture of the always safe Hogwarts had been shattered and couldn't be repaired.


	29. Worries

Finally a new chapter. I'm really sorry for the long wait. I promised, I'd have more time but life's working against my fanfiction.

Thanks for your understanding, _Magical Maniac Girl_, I just hope that you had enough patience to wait until I finally found my way in front of the computer again.

I have the next two chapters halfway ready and I plan to bring them online before christmas, but I can't promise anything.

Anyhow, have fun with the next chapter!

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**29th Chapter - Worries**

Elisha was curled up in an armchair in a remote corner of the Ravenclaw Common Room, playing lazily with Serena and listening to the music from her discman. The Second War had begun and Elisha was in an emotional uproar. The knowledge of the prophecy and how much her brother trusted her disturbed her. She knew now that her hope that Lord Voldemort could rule the world without killing Harry had been futile. _Either has to die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives…_ If the prophecy included her like Harry thought, Voldemort would have to kill her, too, some day. And now she had taken an active part in this war that would throw over the wizarding world and bring Voldemort to full power. She had aggreed to manipulating the wards of Hogwarts only because she knew no way to refuse. Voldemort would have killed her right away if she had and what would Dumbledore say if she went to him for help? She just couldn't, not after what she did. And what would Harry think of her if he knew? These thoughts had been whirling in her mind since christmas eve and she tried to stop brooding over it.

Elisha closed her eyes, continued stroking Serena absent-mindly and listened to Phil Collins singing about a situation with no way out. The song described quite well what she was feeling.

_There's no way out of this dark place_

_No hope, no future_

_I know I can't be free_

_But I can't see another day_

_I can't face another day_

But when, at the end of the song, he said, that he found the path from this dark place, she angrily put the discman away. There was no way out, not for her. Serena was startled by the sudden movement and looked at her with concern clearly visible in her reptile eyes. She understood what Elisha was facing. But her only way to help was to stick to her whatever happened, whatever she chose to do. Serena would always go with her.

Suddenly, two heads with long hair popped up behind them and Padma and Sophie, Elisha's Ravenclaw friends, appeared. They sat down opposite and next to Elisha and began talking seriously. They were both worried and tense. While they talked about the war and their fears, they failed to notice Elisha's unresponsiveness. Elisha sat between them and listened to them and realised that they hoped for Voldemort to fail.

Suddenly, her head jerked up upon something Sophie said: "I heard someone saying that He-who-must-not-be-named has an heir. Do you know what that would mean?"

Padma gasped and Sophie continued: "That would mean that it's not enough to kill You-Know-Who, but that both of them had to be killed. Can you imagine that? Whoever that is, I hate him. Bet he loves slaughtering muggles…"

Elisha stood up suddenly and said that she had to use the toilet. She fled the Common Room and leaned against the wall outside. Everyone would hate her one day. What had she done?

But she couldn't give up. It was power that mattered, power, power, power, only power. Who cared what the people thought? Why would she need friends? Power was her only friend. She repeated these thoughts in her mind until she had convinced herself that they were true. Then she seized the black gem in her pocket with one hand and hissed the incarnation to make the wards tumble again.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore and Minerva McGonnagal were sitting in the Headmaster's office talking seriously as the wards failed again. Albus looked up and groaned. He had a natural connection with the wards, being Hogwarts' Headmaster, and therefore knew at once when they failed. Minerva's head shoot up as she heard him and she asked silently: "Again?"

He nodded and replied gravely: "Again. I wonder how long this will go on. I don't believe that this is happening naturally. Someone must be manipulating the wards."

"It works." She replied watching the Phoenix sitting behind Albus. "The students are getting nervous, tense and fearful, as are the teachers. We'll soon have an intern war out of despair."

"Maybe we should offer voluntary lessons. It would keep the students and staff busy."

Minerva nodded carefully. "Yeah, that might be a good idea. I, for my part, would like to prepare lessons and hold some. It would keep my mind of the war for at least a part of the day."

"We can suggest it at the next staff meeting." Albus proposed and she nodded. He watched her carefully and noticed how tired and worn she looked. He himself probably didn't look much better, though. The burden of being Headmaster of Hogwarts, the leader of the Orden of Phoenix and Voldemort's major opponent was almost too much for him. He had to keep the students safe, he had to keep Harry Potter and his twin safe. Elisha Potter…

Minerva heard him sigh desperately and asked with concern in her voice: "What are you thinking, Albus?"

"Elisha Potter." He only said. Then he explained his worries, he always confided in Minerva. "She is powerful and I'm not sure where to place her. I try to keep her strictly on the light side but I'm not sure wether she still is. The Dark Arts seem to fascinate her but I can't allow her to learn them, you know how obsessing they can be. Elisha is a mysterious person. The first time I met her, I felt that she has a strong personality, very much like her mother. I just hope, that she will be a support for Harry, not a trap.

"Did you know that she has already lerned Occlumency? She could block me completely from her mind. If she supported the Dark Side, we'd hardly stand a chance. Harry is powerful, too, but he doesn't seek new knowledge and powers just as much as she does. Tell me, what are your experiences with her?"

Minerva considered her words carefully before replying. "Well, she doesn't excel in Transfigurations. She barely manages second-sear stuff now. Of course, it is a rapide progress but it's nothing compared to what she does in Charms and Defence Against the Dark Arts. I don't think she's taking Transfiguration really serious, she concentrates on other subjects. But she works hard in the lessons. She's tough, if she wants to be, really clever and somewhat short-tempered.

"I don't think that your suspicions are reasonable. Miss Potter is a nice girl and she gets along fine with her brother and his friends and her own housemates. She might have been a bit snappy towards you but that's a normal attitude with teenagers. And don't forget that she has never had the chance to learn about magic. It's only natural for her to want to read every book she can get. Besides, she's a Ravenclaw…"

Albus looked thoughtfully. He wasn't fully convinced, but maybe Minerva was right. Maybe there really was nothing wrong with Elisha. He really had other things to worry about right now, but he would watch her.

"Could you nevertheless keep an eye on her, please?" he asked.

Minerva nodded: "Of course, I will."


	30. Revelations and Flight

Uff, finally an other chapter. I've taken so long 'cause I wanted to write a chapter about how people see this war, but I just couldn't write it. So I only added one scene to the last chapter. The first scene in this chapter is kinda important to me. I've been playing this scene in my mind ever since I knew that Elisha would be Voldemort's Heiress and I wrote it down more than a month ago.

_hosecrazy13_: I'm always happy to hear, that people like my story ;-) and I'm even more happy when I see that they read it carefully… Thanks for pointing out the little mistake in chapter 18, I've corrected it.

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**30th Chapter - Revelations and Flight**

Kingsley Shaklebolt sat on his desk waiting for his voluntary class of Defence Against the Dark Arts. His facial expression was hardened and he was sitting stiffly. The war took its toll on everybody. Slowly, the room was filling with students. Most of them came to his classes because they thought that it might help them and in order to take their minds off the current problems. The wards were still flickering and everybody's nerves were strained.

When everybody was seated and the whispering had ceased, he lept off his desk and announced: "We'll do something different today, no duelling for a change. I've found a boggart in the dungeons and I think, we should do them again. You faced one in your third year, right? So, everybody in here should know how to fight a boggart. Miss Granger, please."

Hermione's hand had been the first one in the air and she answered the way she always did, like she was reading it from a book: "Boggarts take the form of one's greatest fear. In order to confuse and in the end defeat them, one has to think of something that makes the boggart funny while saying Riddikullus."

"Very well, take five points for Gryffindor. It's always important to know what you fear. That's why I want to do this with you today." He looked around and noticed that Miss Potter seemed a bit pale. "Miss Potter, do you think you'll manage it?"

As she nodded reluctantly, he called the students to the front and led the boggart free. One by one, each student faced the boggart. Their fears had changed. There were less spiders and snakes and banshees but more dead people than there had been in their third year. The students had matured as had their fears. Kingsley watched intensly and wrote down the fear and the way of defeating it of every single student. Then it was Elisha Potter's turn.

What he saw, shocked him only slightly: Harry Potter, covered with blood. But what he heard, really did. With a husky voice, the boggart-Harry accused her: "You betrayed me. I trusted you and you betrayed me."

Elisha had gone completely pale and taken one step backwards. She seemed unable to react. Then the boggart changed its shape. It grew taller and its eyes became snake-like, red slits. Harry gasped and Kingsley froze. Lord Voldemort stood in front of them, laughing madly.

He barked: "The world is mine! Finally mine!" The he looked directly at Elisha who was taking more steps backwards, eyes wide in fear. "And you helped me. You helped me take over the world. I'm proud of you, my Heiress!" More insane laughter.

Then the boggart changed its shape again. Harry Potter saying "You betrayed me!". Sophie Ginnet "You killed me!". Hermione Granger "Traitor!". A muggle woman "Murderer!" Elisha stood with her back at the wall, eyes tightly shut and tears streaming down her face. The boggart changed even faster. All, one could see, were blood-covered faces screaming insults.

By now, Elisha was whimpering and crying: "No! Make it stop!" She sobbed and whispered again and again: "Make it stop."

As he had overcome his shock, Kingsley took one step forward and banished the boggart. The room was deadly silent except for Elisha's occasional sobs and her whispering: "What did I do? What did I do?"

Harry walked carefully towards her and tried to touch her shoulder but Serena dashed forward and hissed threateningly. This brought Elisha out of her daze and she looked around wildly, like a trapped animal. Suddenly, she took a black gem out of a pocket and threw it at Harry who caught it. She hissed something in parseltongue and Harry's eyes widened in understanding. Then she turned around and ran through the door, her snake right behind her. Harry dashed behind her but the door closed on its own and was locked.

* * *

Elisha was running, running in no particular direction. She was just running away. Serena was curled around her waist. She ran through the deserted corridors of Hogwarts, knocked some first-years over, sprinted through the front doors of Hogwarts and towards the Forbidden Forrest. When she crossed the wards, she felt a tingle on her back. She stumbled through the Forbidden Forrest not realizing or not caring that the spiny underwood tore her robes and that her knees and hands were soon bleeding from falling on the rocky ground.

Only when her legs collapsed underneath her and she fell on the ground nose-first, did she turn on her brain again. Slowly, she craddled her robes and moved into a sitting position. She leaned against a tree and looked up. Although it was midday, it was gloomy and dusky beneath the tree-tops. There was no sound except for her own, puffing breath. When the whole extent of what had just happened dawned on her, tears formed in her eyes yet again.

"What shall I do now?" she quietly asked Serena.

"You are in quite a mess." The petit snake hissed back and made herself comfortable in Elisha's lap.

Elisha laughed a hollow laugh. "Yeah, quite a mess. Harry and everyone else know who I really am. By now, Harry will have figured it out. I can't go back to Hogwarts, that's impossible. Not after… after this. But I can't go to Voldemort either.." She stopped mid-sentence

"Yeah, he will not be very happy, that your greatest fear is he winning this war and Harry dying."

"No, probably not." She stopped talking and pulled her knees to her chin.

"We shouldn't stay here. We're running from both sides, now." Serena hissed urgently as Elisha closed her eyes for a moment.

"But where should we go?" Despair was clearly audible in her voice.

"Out of the forrest. There are too many dark creatures in here."

"Fine. And then?" she replied sarcastically. "Standing on the street and calling 'Hi Voldi! Hi Dumbi! Here I am'?" Suddenly, tears flooded her face and she sobbed: "It's hopeless. I've completely messed up."

"Elisha!" Serena hissed angrily. "Listen to me! You can disguise yourself. You are good at it, no one will recognise you. You know how to survive on the street. And then you help your brother win this war." Elisha stared and Serena continued. "Prepare yourself to fight Voldemort. You have the advantage that you know his way of fighting."

"But why…" Elisha interrupted her. "why should I fight against Voldemort at all?"

"Because there's a good chance that he will kill Harry, your brother who you obviously fear to die. And didn't he threaten to kill you if he had reason to doubt your loyalty? He definitely has reason to doubt you now. We can take care of Harry and Dumbledore later, they won't kill you, but Voldemort is a question of survival."

She let her words sink in, then she continued: "Come on, get up. Let's get out of this gloomy forest."

"I don't know the way." Elisha protested weakly.

"Are you a witch or not? Certainely, there is a spell that shows directions."

So, Elisha got up and limped straight on, Serena babbling all the time in order to keep her walking. Fortunately, all dark creatures seemed to have abandoned the parts of the forest they crossed and left them unharmed.


	31. The Aftermath

Sorry, it took so long. I just don't find the time.

Thanks _horsecrazy13_, you only need to be a little patinet with me but I definitely won't abandond this story.

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**31st Chapter – The Aftermath**

Albus Dambledore sat in his office holding his head with both hands. His head had gotten so heavy suddenly and the twinkle was long gone from his eyes. Leading the fight against the most evil wizard alive was a hard job and he always suffered from setbacks, but this time… Harry and his twin sister had been the Light Side's hope. But now…

Fawkes chirped softly and Albus looked up. The Phoenix cooked his head and ruffled his feathers. Even his black eyes had lost their sparkle and his shoulders seemed slumped. But something in his attitude seemed to say 'I told you so'.

"Yes," Albus muttered softly. "you realized that there was something dark about her and rejected her. I should have taken your warning more seriously."

Then he felt someone taking the stairs to his office, Harry Potter. Albus sighed, this was hard on Harry as well.

Harry shuffled into his office and slumped into an armchair. When he finally looked up, Albus flinched: His emerald eyes looked desperate and were filled with fear, hurt and unbelief.

Slowly, he started speaking: "I can't belief it. She's been…" He shook his head fighting back tears. "His Heiress. I trusted her, I loved her, I still do. She meant so much to me, my family. My own sister, Voldemort's Heiress. Why?"

"To be quite honest with you, Harry, I did fear that she would be an easy prey for Voldemort. I was sure that he would try to get her on his side. You know, his view of the world is quite familiar to her." Harry opened his mouth to protest, but Albus forstalled him.

"No, let me explain. For him, the only thing that matters is power. If you don't have enough power to make others fear you, you have to serve those who have power. Love and friendship and happiness don't exist for him, there's only greed, ambition, hate, envy and pain. Life on the streets is very much like that, you can only survive there if you have power or someone who has power protects you. Elisha understands his way of seeing the world, she understands his concept of power, maybe better than the concept of friendship and love. And he gaver her a chance to participate in his power. She was longing to use her magical powers, she wanted to learn everything about magic.

"And we both know how manipulative Voldemort can be. Who knows what he promised her or how he threatened her. Which leads us to an other question: Why didn't we notice anything?"

"Hermione suspected that something was wrong with her, but Ron and I didn't listen. I was so blind, I'm supposed to be her brother for Merlin's sake! I should have realised something was wrong. If I had only watched her more closely…" Harry almost cried now. Albus thought about interrupting him, but he couldn't give any comfort, so he remained silent. "Her reaction to the prophecy should have been a clear warning…"

"You told her of the prophecy?" Albus asked concerned.

"Yeah… she cried and told me that she'd fail me. I only thought that she wasn't self-confident enough, that she… but she must have already been his heiress then…"

"I suppose that she joined him after she was kidnapped. When she came back, she was distraught, usual reaction to being kidnapped, but there was something about the way she behaved… I then decided to watch her closely, but obviously not closely enough. I should have had an intense conversation with her about the dangers of the Dark Arts right then. Three weeks ago, when she came into my office demanding a permission to use the library's restricted section, it was already too late.

"But it's no use crying over spillt milk. Now, we need to find her before Lord Voldemort does. I suppose that after her betrayal she'll be on the very top of his "Top Ten Wanted"-List. I don't think that there's any chance he'll accept her again, not after she's shown love for you. Don't give her up yet, Harry. Give her a second chance, she isn't evil, she isn't as cold-hearted as Voldemort. Remember what the boggart showed her, what her greatest fear is. She gave you the tool to restore Hogwards wards. She isn't lost on us, yet. A lot of things can happen now. And now I want you to go to bed. In the morning many things look a lot better than in the evening."

* * *

Early the next morning, when Harry lay awake in his bed, his mind was a whirlpool of thoughts and memories. The scene in the Defence classroom kept repeating in an infinite loop. Always again he heard the high-pitched voice saying "I'm proud of you, my heiress." and always again, he saw his own dead body. Suddenly, a sharp pain stabbed behind his forehead and Harry cried with pain. So Voldemort knew now. Harry had never experienced him so angry before. He writhed in agony and didn't notice the boys in his dormitory jumping out of bed and frantically getting Professer McGonnagal who quickly brought him to the Hospital Wing. Finally the pain lessened as he lost consciousness. But even in the deep blackth of unconsciousness, he couldn't escape Voldemort. He was pulled to somewhere and found himself witnessing a deatheater meeting

_Lord Voldemort was furiously pacing his throne hall. Whenever his fiery gaze met one of his followes, they flinched and backed off. Five Deatheaters had already experienced his wrath and were lying on the floor. Suddenly, Lord Voldemort spun around facing his servants and barked: "I want her!"_

_Then he sat down stiffly and announced in a calm voice full of suppressed anger: "I trained her to be my Heiress. She would have been perfect: powerful, intelligent, ambitious, hurt by the world, my greatest foe's sister. I didn't expect her to be capable of foolish love for her brother, to be so weak._

_"I want you to track her down and bring her to me alive! Kill that woman who raised her and annihilate the muggle street gang she lived with! Make it as painful for the victims and as disastrous as possible! Lucius, Bellatrix, you will lead that attack and you'd better not come back empty-handed."_

When Harry regained consciousness, the early morning sun was already shining onto his bed. Ther was a knot of worry and fear forming in his stomache. Even though Elisha had betrayed him, he still loved her.

* * *

At the same time, a lone girl was sitting on the pavement in a busy part of London crying silently. Her clothes were torn and her hands and face dirty. She stared dully straight ahead and didn't notice the people walking by looking at her with anger or pity.

A slender, young woman with red hair walking on the other side of the street, saw her, looked away and looked again. Her eyes went searchingly up to the girl's forehead. When she saw the scar, she gasped and ran cross the street without looking right or left.

At the sound of squeaking cars' brakes and a familiar voice calling an almost forgotten name, the girl's head jerked up. In the same moment, a bright green light hit the woman, who slumped to the ground immediately, and about fifty figures wearing black robes and hoods and white masks appeared on the street. The girl jumped up drawing her transparent wand and the battle began…


	32. Escape

Uff, finally an other chapter ready. I hardly have free time and writing doesn't go as smoothly as it did in the beginning. Thankfully the plot is slowly reaching its end and there aren't many more chapters to go. I will finish this fic but I suppose that it will take some time. Thanks to my lonely reviewer.

* * *

**Star and Lightning**

**32nd Chapter – Escape**

Lucius Maslfoy stood behind a muggle advdertising poster and watched the girl they were supposed to bring their Lord. She seemed broken and easy to capture. How the Dark Lord could choose her as his Heiress when he had so many loyal followers was beyond Lucius. True, she was powerful and would have been a great assett for their side if she had fought for them but she turned out to be a traitor. What else could you expect from a Potter? She should have died when they had captured her for the first time.

A self-satisfied smirk crossed his smug features. Yes, if he brought her to the Dark Lord, he would certainely be rewarded greatly… Maybe there was even a chance that he, or his son, could become the new heir… Suddenly his face hardened. That muggle woman, her name was Zaza he remembered, had spotted the girl and brought her out of her daze. He winked to his fellow Death Eaters that now was the time to act. He saw Bellatrix aiming at the woman and killing her at once. Too bad, the girl was alarmed now.

Lucius, Bellatrix and eight other high-ranking Death Eaters circled her while the middle-class duellers arranged behind them and the lowest-ranking Death Eaters were supposed to kill as many muggles as possible. Lucius shouted and all ten of them fired stunners simulatenously. Miraculously, the girl managed to block them all. She reacted with a quick sequence of Dark curses that managed to knock one of the ten out. Lucius had no time to swear since he had to react quickly. Curses and hexes flew from side to side in a blur and he had to admit that she had improved immensly since their last encounter. The Death Eaters were in a vast majority but still the girl was fighting! Damn the Dark Lord who had trained her so well! Lucius knew that they had to be quick before Aurors appeared and they would be outnumbered. They plastered the girl with nasty hexes and dark curses but she either managed to avoid or block them ignoring her wounds while Death Eaters were falling one by one. Her shields and curses were more powerful than anything that Lucius had ever seen. He didn't even try to block her curses, the only rescue was dodging them since they had penetrated every shield so far.

Lucius gritted his teeth in frustration and looked for an other way to get her. She was just too powerful, they couldn't end this fight quickly and they had not enough time to tire her. He realized that she relied on the house behind her to save her back. She was only concentrating on the wizards in front of her. If he could get into that house through a backdoor and attack her from a window…

He quickly checked wether Bellatrix was still fighting and made his way towards the house's backyard when he suddenly heard the shrill scream of one of the newest members in the ranks of the Death Eaters. He turned around ready to curse the man for his stupidy but what he saw muted him: A blue snake had bitten the man and obviously she was poisonous. Damn it, his son had warned him of the girl's snake… Before he could think any more the snake was right in front of him and glared at him with her piercing, orange eyes. Lucius staggered back and raised his wand but he never uttered a spell because the snake shot foreward and he felt sharp teeth penetrating the flesh around his ankle. He yelled sharply and then the world around him became black…

* * *

Serena's head shot up and her tongue darted out when she heard the black-clothed men attacking. She stayed with her Mastress some time but then decided that she would be much more of a help if she bit those who the Dark Lord had sent to hurt them. Her Mastress had forbidden her to bite, but this was an exception, this was a question of life or death. So she glided away from her and in between the Death Eaters. One bite in the ankle was enough to send them sprawled on the ground. Several Death Eaters tried to aim curses at her, but Serena was fast so no one hit her. For quite some time, she dashed between them and bit, but slowly she felt her reservoir of poison emptying, she didn't have many bites left. Then she saw one of the leaders, the one with the white hair, hurrying towards a backdoor of the house behind her Mastress. Assuming what his plan was, Serena quickly blocked his way and dug her teeth into his ankle. 

Now that she was suddenly very drained, she returned to her Mastress' side and saw that she was holding up only with difficulty. She curled around her waist and hissed urgently: "Let's get away from here. There are just too many. You can apparate, can't you?"

In a swish of colour they disappeared. But they didn't immediately re-appear. They were caught in a magical whirlwind and her Mastress didn't even seem to realise. Serena became worried and hissed: "Mastress! Do something!"

And she caught herself and forced them to materialize. The landed in a cosy, little room that was stuffed with cuddly toys and CDs. Serena untangled herself from Elisha's robes and darted her tongue in and out smelling the scent of the room while her Mastress dragged herself onto the small bed that stood underneath the window. There was only a faint smell of muggles in this house, they had probably left. Considering that the young witch was at the edge of breakdown, this place was as good as any other.

The only thing in this room that worried: her was the huge, black box at the other end of the room. Serena glided towards it and tapped it carefully with her nose. Suddenly, the box jumped to life and music began filling the room. It was a sad melody, full of grief and despair.

_Sound the bugle now – play it just for me_

_As the seasons change – remember how I used to be_

_Now I can't go on – I can't even start_

_I've got nothing left – just an empty heart_

She saw her Mastress staring into space feeling how much the words fit her right now.

_I'm a soldier – wounded so I must give up the fight_

_There's nothing more for me – lead me away…_

_Or leave me lying here_

Serena watched helplessly as she closed her eyes and let herself fall backwards.

_Sound the bugle now – tell them I don't care_

_There's not a road I don't know – that leads to anywhere_

_Without a light I fear that I will - stumble in the dark_

_Lay right now – decide not to go on_

This wasn't the sort of music her Mastress should be hearing right now. Serena already headed towards the CD-player intenting to turn it off when the rhythm and beat of the music changed slightly. It beame more hopeful.

_Then from on high – somewhere in the distance_

_There's a voice that calls – remember who you are_

_If you loose yourself - your courage soon will follow_

_So be strong tonight – remember who you are_

_Ya you're a solder now – fighting in a battle_

_To be free once more…_

_Ya that's worth fighting for_

A serpentine smile wound its way up her face when she saw the expression on her young Mastress' face. She would have betted her tongue that the witch was hearing her brother's voice in her head right now. The battle wasn't lost yet.


	33. Reunion?

First of all : Thanks to everybody who reviewed. I'm going to finish this story now.

Alright, this will simply be the last chapter now

**33rd Chapter – Reunion?**

The next day at school, everybody knew what had happened in the Defence classroom and the school was filled with rumours, distrust towards Harry and happiness that the wards were up again. During breakfast, Lavender Brown told that Elisha was in fact You-know-who's daughter and and a boy from Ravenclaw explained that she had been planning to kill all the inhibatitants of Hogwarts with one flick of her wand while the Slytherins were quietly discussing options among themselves.

Ron and Hermione tried not to listen to the gossipping around them and hurried so that they coul vistit Harry in the hospital wing where he was recovering from his vision. When they entered the hospital wing, they saw Harry sitting in his bed with an unfinished bowl of porridge in front of him. Hermione hurried over and embraced him carefully. She noticed how weak Harry felt and saw how pale he was. Then she smiled carefully at him and asked: "How are you, Harry?"

"I've been better." He weakly returned her smile. Then his face became serious. "I've seen Voldemort giving out orders to catch her. He will kill her…" A lone tear was making its way down his face. "He will kill my sister."

Hermione felt a knot of fear forming in her stomach and looked at Ron who had become unhealthily pale as well.

"That won't be easy for him." Ron said in an attempt to cheer him up. "You know how powerful she is."

"But she's out there all alone…" Harry was openly crying now and the sight wrenched at Hermione's heart. Harry had lost so much already… she was afraid of what would happenif he lost his sister as well. There had to be a way…

"She propably doesn't know who to turn to…" she muttered. "She can't go back to Voldemort because he will kill her and she won't dare coming back to Hogwarts, because she thinks that everbody hates her now."

"But that's not true!" Harry protested. "I still love her and Dumbledore is willing to give her a second chance."

Hermioen's head shot up. "Then tell her! Write a letter and tell her, that you understand and that she will be safe at Hogwarts. Hedwig should be able to find her, as long as… " here she faltered and Ron continued darkly: "as long as she hasn't been caught yet."

* * *

Elisha moaned and moved her head carefully. Her whole body ached. Slowly, she moved herself in a sitting position and looked around her surroundings. This seemed to be a muggle bedroom. She herself was sitting on a flat bed, there was a messy desk covered with muggle utensils and a huge cupboard hung with posters of famous singers and actors. Just as she began to look for Serena, the snake slithered through the half-opened door with a pack of cold pancakes behind her. Hungry as she was, Elish wolved the pancakes down while listening to Serena.

"This is a muggle house, but it's empty except for us at the moment. There's stil some food in the kittchen that can last us for a few days, but we should get moving as soon as possible."

"We have a Dark Lord to kill." Elisha added grimly.

Serena smiled her serpentine smile. "Exactly." She was proud of her Mastress.

"Zaza…" Elisha remembered. "That bastard of a Death Eater killed Zaza last night!"

"It's time to turn the tables." Serena announced. "Your magical education may have been very short, but you have learned a lot."

"And I will use that knowledge and my powers to hunt them down." Elisha whispered strongly. "And maybe, when I've killed enough of them, Harry will forgive me."

At that moment, a white snowy owl appeared in front of the small room's window and pecked at the glass. "Hedwig?" Elisha opened the window and let the owl in. Hedwig cooed hello to Serena and then landet on the band in front of Elisha holding her foot out. With trembling hands, the girl untied the letter and unrolled it. Then she read out loud:

_Dear Elisha_

_I hope that Hedwig finds you and that you haven't been caught yet. I was really shocked, when I found out, that you had become his Heiress, but I understand that you propably had no choice. _

_Let me make one thing clear: You are my sister and I love you and nothing will ever chance that! And I'm so worried about you. Voldemort wants you dead._

_Please come back to Hogwarts. You will be safe here. Professor Dumbledore is willing to give you a second chance and he will convince all the Ministry Officials as well. _

_I miss you._

_Love_

_Harry_

Tears were welling up in Elisha's eyes when she had finished. "Harry doesn't hate me…" She looked at Serena and Hedwig and for the first time in many days a sincere smile spread over her face. "Hedwig, lead me to Hogwarts!"

- END -


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